Favib sy 1 


University of Illinois fae 
Meco ien | UNIVERSITY OF ILLINAIS 
Oak St. LiRBANA 
Unclassified 


Ee 


Landmark and Observer 


DEVOTED CHIEFLY TO THE SUBJECT OF 


Transportation to the Sea via the Mississippi, 


AS THE 


Pees Ty mR AT A TD 


TO. ALL OTHER MEANS AND ROUTES, THE CLEARING AND KEEPING 
CLEAR THE BAR AT ITS MOUTH, THE OPENING A 


_ Central, National, Grand Trunh Waterway 


FROM THE HARBOR OF CHICAGO TO THE GULF OF MEXICO,. AS A MEASURE 
OF NATIONAL ECONOMY, PROSPERITY AND DEFENCE, AND 


A Nationat Potrcy. 


s] 


© 
BY WM. DT. STACKPOLE Peeruroi) Ee Y Tie, 


CHICAGO: 
STEAM PRINTING HOUSE OF BIRNEY HAND & CO.,111 MADISON ST. 


1879. 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year me by 


ng eg, ee — 


en 


“a 
Puc 


<j “/ BS, 
q 


A ae Ape 


Re 


DEDICATED 


TO ALL CITIZENS, AND ESPECIALLY THE 


FARMERS’ CLUBS AND GRANGES 


OF THE ORDER OF 


PATRONS .OF HUSBANDRY, AS A POWERFUL BODY NOW ORGANIZED FOR 
REFORM, 
AND TO ALL OTHERS WHO DESIRE IT, AND WHOSE INTERESTS MUST BE PROMOTED 


BY THE UNIVERSAL BENEFITS IT MUST CONFER ON THE PEOPLE 


OF AMERICA, WITHOUT DISTINCTION .OF CLASSES, 
© 
OR SECTIONS, OR STRIPE OF EITHER. 


1155216 


PREFACE. 
0 Gee 


“CLG | + ‘eHIS little pamphlet or magazine is written in the hope that it 
: S may aid in promoting action and unity of action in regard 
y] Ves) * to some objects of vast importance to the people of the Great 
Valley of the Mississippi, (using that term in its broadest sense, ) 
and these objects are of a cuaracter so eminently just, beneficial, broad, 
and safe, that it is thought none will openly oppose them, unless prompted 
to do so by some sectional or local jealousy, or the clashing of what might 
be erroneously thought to be rival or conflicting interests, 

But the structure of our country is such, that really the objects for which 
we labor, are, beyond question, and must ever be of cardinal and primary im- 
portance, in promoting-the well-being and prosperity of the nation at large > 
and so of the States, communities and individuals composing it. 

We wish to attack or wound no one, but the wounds of the past, through 
the incompetency of the management of some public affairs, are so deep, 
and these effects have been so terrible to such immense interests of the peo - 
ple of the present, past, and future, and to individuals and their posterity, 
that the plain truth, in plain English, ought now to be presented, not to 
wound or injure any interest, party, men, or section, but to ume go01 man 
upon a few right measures, upon which all, or near!y all, can agree, and 
which could then be very easily, safely, cheaply and quickly accomplished , 
and thus the best interests of every man, woman and child be promoted. 

The lessons of the past we believe of far more value than the theories of 
the present and future, but our space and time will not admit of any lengthy 
discussion of either, but only inf the main the suggestion of some points that 
can be agreed upon, (we hope, ) by the great majority of the people. And 
of this character we think is the clearing and keeping clear the entrance to the 
Mississippi from the great Deep—usually obstructed (like party politics) with 
mud. The past history of our own and every othercountry proves that in all 
public affairs a fatal drift of popular error, aided by the perfectly selfish 

designs of a few or many individuals, conduct whole nations on to such ruin, 
that a whole generation or more is required for recovery. And the heaviest 
burdens of disaster are too apt to fall on the most worthy men, and on the 


6 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. ” 


poor. The stupid and wild extravagance of speculation,and excess of importa- 
tions that brought on the revolution of 1837—the breakdown of the banking 
system in 1857—inadequate to transact the healthy business of the country, 
and other like events, illustrate in a slight degree in this country, what other 
countries have shown more fully, and more terribly. 

The headlong rush for endless and interminable speculation in railroads, 
and the neglect of the economic modes of transportation; nay, more, the de- 
liberate attempts to strangle and destroy them, has at last resulted in an honest 
movement for reform in the great and vital matter of transportation as well as 
in legislation. And trusting in the sincerity and integrity of that movement, 
and conscious of his own, this little book has been prepared, and this simple 
plan of concentrated and comprehensive action is offered to the public by 
the author, not with the vain idea that the subject is here exhausted or fully 
presented, but with the firm belief that the ground-work, here laid, is solid 
and impregnable. : : 

All the world knows that the attempt to establish a separate government 
that wouldinclude the Lower Mississippi, and so hamper the material inter- 
_ests of the great valley and the nation, failed—for the thunder of cannon, and 
the clang of arms, announced it far and wide over the whole earth. 

Yet, few know anything of the attempt to transfer to a private company— 
the Illinois—the link connecting, almost, our vast system of rivers with the 
great chain of lakes, nor the manner of its defeat. 


The part, which in the Providence of events, it fell in the path of the 
writer to take in defeating that great scheme of monopoly, (even though it 
was enrolled among the laws of Illinois,) may have been in the mind of 
the writer by that same Providence the nucleus for this work. If then the 
product is inadequate, and hastily written, may not it at least receive some 
kindly favor from intelligent and patriotic people, until a deter one appears 
Jrom some abler pen whom this perhaps may prompt. 

It has been suggested by friends, that this work should be continued, and 
madea periodical magazine, and beyond doubt the magnitude and import- 
ance of the suédjects demand this, yet circumstances, and personal health, 
will not admit at present of any positive plans of this kind. This edition 
is limited to five thousand copies, which, it is hoped, the friends of the 
cause will soon take, read and circulate. 

And may the Most High God, who blessed the effort sixteen years ago, 
and preserved the great waterways to the people intact—though lands and 
gold are gone—bless now this, extend it far and near, multiply its friends, 
and crown it with complete and full success. 


‘ 


(Meloy NAG OS 


NN glancing over the great number of conventions that have 
been held in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, and throughout 
ae the country since January last, he would be adull man indeed, 

1 *aiv@’ who would fail to see that a strong desire for reform generally, 
and in the pecuniary matter of transportation especially, existed in the en- 
tire country. And these conventions have been largely and well attended, 
by many able, patriotic, just, and sincere men, (and by some that were not, 
of course), and it would seem impossible that they could fail, in connection 
with the thorough and powerful organization now existing, of accomplishing 
a great good. 

But alas! The records of the past show many great movements, attended 
largely by many equally able and devoted men, that have been barren of 
results, or very nearly so, and if the gentlemen who attended them will re- 
flect, they may call to mind a number of notable River and Harbor Con- 
ventions, in Chicago and Saint Louis, in the last thirty years, attended by 
men of national reputation (as men of ability and patriotism), and it would 
be difficult to point to any results therefrom. 

Probably one great difficulty then was lack of unity and concentration of 
effort—lack also of the people holding their Congressional Representatives 
to a strict account. And in some degree the same causes of failure doubt- 
less now exist, and may and probably will be perpetuated, unless the move- 
ment is concentrated first on some given point, over which it can have easy 
and complete control, and be aided by the undeniable merit of the Obj ects 


- aimed to be accomplished. 


The newspapers give us lengthy accounts of the trip of the Congressional 
Convention held at St. Louis in May last—from thence to Galveston, over 
the new ratlways,; of the feasting—the immense and long-continued flow of 
champagne ; of the expense to Co]. Thomas Scott, (some $7,000 being 
that speculative railroad gentleman’s bill); of the seventy millions of acres 
of land depending, for two or three of those South-Western and Pacific 
Railroads, the most valuable of which can only be had by wresting from the 
Indians their reservations confirmed to them by repeated treaties, and at the 
cost of another war of sickening rapacity and injustice; of the visit to New 


“8 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


Orleans and the Gulf afer Galveston ; of the speeches and promises of 
opening the mouth of the River, and even threats that if nothing else would 
suffice, the West would move the Capitol to the Mississippi, &c., &c., &c. 

All this and much more, many‘of us have read; and while in the great 
mass there is much that seems plausible, and even hopeful, there is infinitely 
more cropping out that is dark, awful and revolting—beyond the power of 
language to express. , 

One thing is rather startling: that some of these great corporations, not 
satisfied with the incredible donations to them, are getting possession of all 
the alternate sections worth having ; another, that two companies are getting _ 
now donations of land nearly equal in extent to three times the area of the 
‘great State of Illinois; another, that these lands (that are not worthless) are 
sold by the railroads at five times the government yprice ; another, that the 
donation to soldiers is rendered inoperative by the impracticable require- 
ment that the soldier must go on to the land and settle (whether he wishes - 
to or can) within six months—for the benefit really of the railroads afore- 
said; another, the amazing facility with which, (when plunder is to be 
had), excuses for war can be framed ; another, that when one Pacific rail- 
road can scarcely pay its interest and expenses, three more in less central and 
far less favorable localities are being built ; another, the total neglect of the 
rights of posterity, of those Americans born of Americans, who may want 
land, ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred, two hundred or three hundred years 
hence. Even pagan Rome lasted twelve hundred years, and it is base in 
any people to bar out their own posterity for the sake of establishing im- 
mense, zcredib/e monopolies in the land. It is most base to violate the 
faith of treaties with the long-driven Indian, and the rights of the white 
American men, women and children, and their children and descendants, 
who may want land, and be unable to get it, by reason of its absorption by a 
few, and occupation perhaps by Mongolian serfs, who, with cheap Chinese 
prostitutes, are now being emptied upon all the far West, from powerful and 
capacious steamships, plying between San Francisco and China, aided by 
subsidies from the United States treasury, and the traffic virtually encouraged 
and guarantied by treaties with China—introducing a new class unfitted for 
our institutions,-and that may easily become voters, and the convenient 
political make-weights of embryo. usurpers, robbers and thieves, whose 
claws civilization has amazingly sharpened, though concealed under a 
hypocrisy most wonderful. When did we surrender to this daring mob of 
speculators, and demagogues, and hypocrites, clamoring for plunder of the 
dead, the living and the unborn, and calling it glorious progression, when 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 9 


indeed it is only selfish speculation, greedy expansion, and monarchical 
luxury, that wastes more than it builds securely and beneficently? If we 
turn back the pages of a few years of our history, (leaving the war out), 
some facts are startling. + 

The gold and silver product of our mines for twenty-four years past has been 
unexampled in the history of any nation, ancient or modern, yet it has all 
gone away like the morning dew, and debts, railroad, municipal, state and 
national, have been piled up like mountains on the breast of a giant in 
addition. . 

After mortgaging one-half of the continent to build railroads, we have 
suffered the obstruction of the great rivers, to swell their profits, and robbed 
posterity of their lands, and violated treaties, and taken Indian lands, and 
given to speculators to build more, where they are not wanted and cannot 
pay. The wail that has at last gone up is now derided by many, yet mighty 
revolutions have sprung from less causes. 

The Grangers are now organized, they claim, fora specific purpose. The 
writer bows the knee to no party, nor order, nor men, nor section, but most 
respectfully invites the attention of a@//, in this number of the Landmark and 
Observer, to one measure designed for the good of all; safe, peaceful, con- 
Servative and protective of all interests, certain in its general benefits, and 
furnishing the proper, natural and Jegitimate base for those great lines stretch- 
ing from the Lakes and the Mississippi to the Pacific coast; making the 
people’s line from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico, the great (water) ‘Trunk 
line, not less important for navigation than the ocean itself—to the people 
of the West, the natural adjunct of the great northern lake route, (for one- 
half of the year especially), the proper and natural aid of the railways in 
their legitimate business, and that would form when improved the very key- 
stone (so to speak) of the great central system of the water-ways and rail- 
ways of the country, aiding more than can well be estimated the cheapening 
of transportation to the sea, the relief of the farmers, (without injury to any 
interest), the sound and healthy development of the country, and fending to 
AVERT the disaster that unhealthy speculation and injustice must inevitably 
cause if continued ; with all the evils of a desperate strife of classes in addi- 
tion. And when great disaster comes, it reaches nearly all, in every part 
of the nation. - 

With just and equitable freight and passenger tariffs on the railways, and 
good navigation to the Gulf, a great stride in the well-being of the people, 
(all classes and sections), will have been made, and for which an enlight- 
ened self-interest should induce every one to labor with sincerity and unity. 


’ 
* 


THE BAR AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 


a 


‘““The Valley of the Mississippi is, upon the whole, the most magnificent dwelling-place 
prepared by God for man’s abode.”—DE TocQuEYVILLE.: 


P| 


2 
: 
$ 


F the entrance to the harbor at New York were obstructed 

)) by a bar of sand or mud, so that only vessels of light 

“Oa on draft could cross it, and Congress failed to provide for 

7 e@" its removal or the deepening of the water by dredging, 

and the whole commerce of the city and of the nation was greatly affected 
and injured thereby, would it be borne in passive silence ? 

Or, if the light-houses of the Atlantic seaboard of the United States of 
America were allowed to remain dark and unlighted for one year, or for 
even one month, would there be no complaint? 

And if, by want of systematic attention, and of a regular system of work, 
adapted to the nature of the obstruction, a few score or a few hundred ships 
were grounded, and a few hundred or a few thousand kept away or sent to 
some other harbor a thousand miles down the coast, to which the freight of 
New York, or a large part of it, had to be sent in smaller vessels, and there 
unloaded, and loaded into large ships for exportation to foreign countries ; 
and if by this, millions, multiplied totens and hundreds of millions of dollars, 
were lost to the country ; and by these great leaks in its business, merchants 
and people were brought to bankruptcy, would it be agreeable to us,and espe- 
cially to New York, for a government of the people and for the people — as 
ours is theoretically supposed to be—to look on in cold indifference ? 

And yet this is precisely. what has been done—not for a month nor for a 
year, nor since the rise of the Republican party, or the defeat of the Demo- 
cratic party, but for two full generations, only the harbor is not that of New 
York, but of the Valley of the Mississippi, a domain surpassing any ever 
yet given by God to man, and so recognized by the ablest minds of modern 
times—outside of the American Congress—and so recognized by them, only the 
recognition is as yet 7a gaseous form, and has not as yet assumed a solid 
form, a practical point, resembling in this respect, the theory of some mod- 
ern scientists in regard to the origin of matter. 

The American Eagle has been made to soar, by many a windy orator, far 
and wide over the Great Valley, the Rivers and the Lakes, and mae 


Wii 


—--O Weil U7, 


Ta 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. ENE 


ventions have been held, and much honest and intelligent effort, (and still 
more that was neither,) has been made, yet few results have been won, so 
far as the rivers are concerned. 

In the autumn of 1848, (and again in 1851,) the writer crossed the bar 
at the mouth of the Mississippi, and at that time, while vessels of the lighter 
class, adapted to the coasting trade, floated over easily without grounding, yet 


-heavy ships bound for Europe experienced the greatest difficulty, and pow- 
‘erful tow-boats were laboring to draw them through the mud, at great 


expense and some risk of injury to the ships. 

One splendid ship, the ‘‘ Forest King,” was stuck hard in the mud, and 
upon her two powerful tow-boats were exerting their utmost force to drag her 
over the bar and into the deep water of the gulf, a few rods beyond ; 
which, once reached, she could spread her white wings for Europe. 


All that was required then, was a little dredging out of the soft mud, de- 
posited by the Great River on the bar at. its mouth, and this is all that isnow, 
or at any time required. 

When once the bar is passed, outward-bound vessels enter at once the 
broad, deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, while those entering the river 
are, when the bar is crossed, safe from all danger of shipwreck — safe from 
the dangers of the seas, and find a deep, safe river, free from all danger from 
rocks, snags, or sand bars, up to and far above New Orleans, for ships of the 
largest class. 

Of course there have been various party dogmas, and narrow sectional in- 
terests, thrust in the way of the improvement of even the great national river, 
but the absurd or criminal neglect, so long continued, of the ex/rance of this 
great system of river navigation (estimated by Benton at fifty thousand 
miles of boatable waters) cannot be accounted for in this way, Clearly it ts 
national, and not only national, but being one of the most important har- 
bors it the world, the whole world is interested in easy and safe access to. 
if 

Were there great natural obstacles to be overcome, and these of a kind 
that could only be overcome by a vast expenditure — like that for the Suez 
Canal, there might be some excuse for the neglect. 

But there is no difficulty, nor has it ever been claimed that there is any. 
The great Lower Mississippi is comparatively gentle, safe, wide and deep, 
up to the bar at its mouth ; that passed, and the broad, deep waters of the 
Gulf of. Mexico and the salt-seas of our planet lie beyond. 

_ The distance across the bar isa mere trifle —the dredging to be done a 
ery little, comparatively, merely deepening the water, by dredging out from 


ee 


12 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER, 


two to eight or ten feet of soft mud, and this need only be in a narrow chan- 
nel four hundred or five hundred feet in width ; (even much less might do) 
and then the largest ships that float upon the seas can steam up or be towed 
to New Orleans, or far above if required, with the greatest facility. 

Compared with the Suez Canal, the work to be done is as a farmer's ditch. 
to the Erie Canal, and when once cleared, the expense of keeping 27 so will be 
but a trifle compared with the importance of this great natural outlet to the 
world for the very heart of the American continent. But just there as the’ 
pont, United States dredges, (an adequate force), under the charge of a 
competent, working, practical, faithful and diligent officer, should be con- 
stanily kept there in service—or ready for service. 

No begging petition should ever again be necessary, or thought of, to se- 
cure this, any more than to secure Pees ue for lighting up the light- 
houses on the Atlantic coast. | 

Dredging the bar at the mouth of the Mississippi is not the whole duty 
of government, but it should be Aeld second fo none in importance, and as 
traly fh national as any service can be. 

The Mississippi river does not stop its current and wait for appropriations 
to remove a fraction of the sediment where its waters join the great seas. 
Its ceaseless flow pauses not one instant ; so let there be no break nor inter- 
regnum in this governmental duty. Even the scavenger carts of a city are 
always in service, and this dredging is important to hundreds of cities, and 
in some degree at least to one-third the population of the whole earth, 
especially to the United States of America, and most particularly to that 
great Heart of this Western World—the Valley of the Mississippi, and the 
score of great States it contains. 

Then, in the great name of justice and common sense, let us have no 
more of this ruin and waste of public and private interests, no more of 
these miserable spasms of Congressional appropriations, oncc in five or ten 
years ; but judicious, regular, sufficient service, as regular (except differ- 
ences in service) as that for the lighthouses, or the mails, the army, the 
navy, or the just payment of public officers; usual, regular work when 
required, only to be interrupted by storms or unavoidable delay; benefiting 
the merchant, the sailor, the boatman and the farmer; benefiting all the 
people, whose interests no rings or combinations can separate, and removing _ 
a long-continued grievance, injury and injustice to the West and Southwest, 
and a disgrace to the nation which prides itself upon its great river, the 
teeming country we call the valley of that river, and yet keeps a pitiful mud 
bar across its greatest natural entrance. 


CONNECTING THE WATERS OF THE GREAT AMERICAN 
‘LAKES WITH THE WATERS OF THE GREAT RIVERS, 


Ger@REXT IN ORDER, after the clearing of the mouth of the 
| oe Dye: S(S@< Mississippi, that the ships of the world may safely and easily 


enter it at all times—and of the same eminently national 
little matter’”—very old, yet very much neglected, and seemingly about 
abandoned by Congress, even in the gaseous exhalations which it was. once 
fondly hoped would finally condense, solidify and lead to a most practical, 
most national and most beneficent result—the connecting by the United 
States, of the waters of the Great Lakes with those of the Mississippi and the 
Gulf of Mexico by enlarging the Illinois and Michigan canal, and _ placing 
five to seven locks and dams in the Illinois river—wonderfully and admir- 
ably adapted as it is by nature to this use, as is fully proved. 

Over this simple, plain, yet most grand and beneficent project, the Amer- 
ican Eagle has also soared a great many times at many great conventions, 
but that is.all. 

Whether he has been diverted by some rabbit, rat, (Railroad rat) mouse, 
or owl, some cat bird, mocking bird, or fish-hawk, or some sectional barn- 
yard fowl, crowing for his dunghil!, for his constituents and for Buncomb, 
and demanding appropriations for Duck Creek, that that be placed on an 
equality with the Mississippi (as a matter of principle, you know), whether 
the Eagle was diverted by this menagerie, we know not. Certain it is, how- 
ever, that his gaze has been turned away from the beneficent sun of utility, 
and his talons have shown a wonderful affinity for plunder. 

It is idle, however, and probably would be unjust, to seek to find a polit- 
ical scape-goat—a party, or man, or set of men, upon whom all the blame © 
can be placed for the long neglect, or for the political sins of the whole 
people. 

Partisanship and Sectionalism are the monsters that have ridden us, from 
the first, and Demagoguism is the national and inherent weakness of all 
Republics—to be guarded against by an intelligent people, as well as 
monopolies. 


td 


14 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER 


But now that a wail has gone up for reform and for cheaper transporta- 
tion, it would seem impossible that this work, after fifty years of discussion, 
could be permitted to be longer delayed, unless defeated by some unfortu- 
nate circumstances or villainous intrigues, from some quarter—or combina- 
tions of hostile, narrow, and selfish interests, uniting fora common purpose. 
And that these (secretly or openly) will certainly be arrayed, all experience 
shows. ' 

‘If, however, the people who should favor the measure will unite, and 
unitedly and faithfully work for its success until accomplishment, it can 
certainly be carried through, by choosing men to Congress for that and 
kindred purposes, (if all other means fail), who will not dare BrTray their’ 
trust, or neglect it. And the work is not great or the expense heavy,, 

The State of Illinois has built one lock and dam in the river, and provided 
mostly for the building of a second one. The one completed cost four. 
hundred thousand dollars, and probably the average cost of each would be 
little, if any, above that figure. 

It is estimated that five locks are all that will be required to give a depth 
of seven feet, even in the lowest stage, from La Salle to the Mississippi. But 
as a different estimate, some seventeen years ago, fixed the number a; 
seven, it may be best to divide, and say six may be required. At this, and 
allowing for the reimbursement to the State of Illinois for its expenditure, 
two and a half millions would pay for the whole. 

But from La Salle to the Chicago River the expense would be heavier, 
Here too, however, the natural advantages for the work are excellent. 
Abundance of stone of the precise character wanted for walling the banks 
throughout its whole extent, thus making the work permanent,. secure, and 
adapted to the use of tow-boats and river steamers, would be excavated in 
the construction of the work. 

Precisely what it would cost is not known, but, judging from the cost of 
what has already been done—the old Illinois and Michigan Canal, and the 
deep cut to drain the Chicago river, and it is probable that eight or ten mil- 
lions would suffice to complete or enlarge the work, so as to admit of the 
passage of barges of five or six hundred tons, (carrying, say 20,000 bushels 
of corn or wheat, or 15,000 bushels of coal), or of the steamers adapted to 
usual navigation on the Ohio, the Missouri, the Upper Mississippi, the Illi- 
nois and the Cumberland. But even suppose it would cost double that, 
including the reimbursing the State, it would be the best expenditure that 
could be made, and would at once largely add to the value and advan- 
tage of all the inland navigation of the vast river system of the entire Miss-. 


® 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. I5 


issippi Valley, from the Alleghanies to the base of the Rocky Mountains, 
and of the great plateau of the Lakes and lake navigation throughout its 
entire extent, together with all its connecting canals, rivers, and even—seas. 

Though a national work and for our own benefit, advantage and devel- 
opment, yet the commerce of the world would feel it, even as its Oriental 
compeer, the Suez Canal. 

And as the heart and larger arteries, when full, healthy and vigorous, 
send a stronger, healthierand more vigorous flow through the whole human 
system than when enfeebled, weak and suffering, so the great railway system 
of the United States in its entirety, would be solidly and permanently bene- 
fited in the healthy and just fulfillment of its legitimate functions, by the 
stronger and healthier flow of the nation’s internal and foreign commerce in 
its great natural channels, which this would so largely promote. 

And though some lines might find their profits reduced, and some changes 
incident to the improvement of this ‘‘Grand Trunk” waterway through the 
heart of the country to the seaboard that they would not at first relish, yet 
they would get their compensation in the end, in the greater general pros- 
perity of the country through the better adjustment of its business, and 
especially the development of the manufacturing interests of the Mississippi 
Valley, which every patriot should desire to promote, encourage and aid, 
by all proper means, as the sheet-anchor of the pecuniary welfare and 
prosperity of the American people, and especially of the farmers of the west. 

In the report of the transactions of the Department of Agriculture of the 
State of Illinois for 1871, Vol. I, New Series, page 87 to 108, there is a 
most valuable essay on “ Manufactures in [llinois,” from James T. Dwyer 
of Springfield, that should be read by every one. 

Says Mr. Dwyer, ‘‘Our people are becoming slowly convinced of the 
great fact which other communities have practically illustrated, in the pros- 
perity flowing from diversified home industries, that the farm and the furnace, 
_ the workshop and the factory, the railroad and the water-craft, must exist 
within sight of each other, and are as necessary to the prosperity of each 
other as are the bricks, mortar,and material, in the erection of our 
buildings.” 

Of course, narrow critics might find a crevice in which to enter the wedge 
of their criticism in the expression ‘‘ within sight.” Of course, Mr. Dwyer 
means this, not in a literal sense, but with reference to the topography of our 
country, and tothe grand scale upon which nature has wrought in the valley 
of the’ Mississippi. Springfield is interested equally with Naples in the 
improyement of the Illinois River, and Chicago equally with St. Louis, 


16 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER, 


New York equally with New Orleans, the dwellers near the Upper Missis- 
sippi equally with those of the Ohio and the Missouri. In short, to bring 
in an old, concise and comprehensive expression, reaching every city and 
village, every state, county and farm, of about two-thirds of the Union, 
which are in a certain degree interested, and which, we think, will apply 
correctly and accurately—those on ‘‘all the waters flowing into the Gulf of 
Mexico.and all the waters flowing into the Gulf of St. Lawrence,” adding 
to the natural and acquired advantages all now possess a new facility for 
intercommunication, for trade, for travel and interchange of commodities, 
crude and manufactured, minerals, produce, lumber, manufactured articles, 
&e., &c., never before enjoyed—tending to cheapen freight, yet aiding the 
true office of the railway, tending to promote manufactures and a diversified 
industry, to add materially to the value of many articles at the place of pro- 
duction, and yet cheapening the same to consumers, tending to open up 
remunerative employment in many places where it had been wanting, to 
give that stability in all kinds of business, for the lack of which the great 
majority of the American people have so greatly suffered, tending to lessen 
demagoguism, and thus to promote all true nationality and all prosperity, 
and to giving the people of America a better hold on their heritage and 
birthright, the gift of their Creator, than they have had or now have or ever 
~ can have, while almost wholly dependent upon such entirely artificial and 
costly means of moving bulky freight, as railroads alone, gorged as they are 
with a plethora, owing to the neglect of the great waterways, upon which 
the railway magnates (with some honorable exceptions) have looked with a 
jealous and unfriendly eye, seeming to think, in some cases, that they could. 
grasp the whole vast internal trade of this country, and fix the rates of 
freight without any restraint whatever or chance for competition, and (in far 
too many cases) using the power of money and corruption to aid them, and 
aided often by sectional interests and local jealousies of the most stupid 
character, in thwarting the improvement of the great natural waterways. 

Scarce a single great waterway has been opened or improved in these 
United States for twenty years, while debts to England for railways have 
been contracted, sufficient in amount to require a sum in gold and silver 
more than the entire annual yield of our gold and silver mines, to pay the 
annual interest, leaving the country continually in debt and continually 
drained to pay the interest. 

And still more means of transportation (and cheaper means) are needed, 
and still the cry is for more railroads, and still the same strange neglect of 
the great waterways, and mysterious hostility to their improvement. 


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THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. Lf 


We have said scarcely ome has been opened or improved for twenty years. 
Cannot all now for once agree that onE, the peculiar one most useful to the 
country and to all its varied interests and most eminently national, shall be 
opened up for the use of the country. 

From Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico is in reality one line and one work, 
requiring only a few millions at the. outset for construction and improve- 
ment, and when done it is the property of the people—their own for ever, 
their own to the sea, and let it be ‘‘ forever free from all tax, duty and im- 
post, not only to the people of the States where situated, but to all the people 
of all the States.” And to do this, only a comparatively trifling annual 
expenditure would be required, probably not one-fifth the annual national 
expenditure on the Atlantic coast and on the lakes for harbors and lights, 
and the whole first cost would probably be less than one-tenth the whole 
first cost for lighthouses and harbors on the Atlantic coast and on the lakes. 
For from Cairo down very little is to be done, and from Cairo to the mouth 
of the Illinois, not a great deal. ; 

At one place only (the Grand Chain) are there any rocks to be removed, 
and at only a few are sand-bars to be dredged, necessarily. 

Two or three snag boats should be kept in cons/ant service, and half a 
dozen dredges, perhaps ; but Mississippi pilots have never been indulged with 
lighthouses, and will not expect any. The removal of snags is not very 
expensive, and this will greatly lessen all trouble from low water, for then 
(when snags are removed) barges can be handled with greater ease and 
Aisafety:? ! : 

But this service should be cons/ant, as should that at the mouth of the 
river, and not spasmodic as it-has been. The officers in charge should ‘be 
in readiness when the river pilots report a snag or sawyer, (and they should 
be required to report promptly), to go at once with a snag boat and remove 
it. In this way accidents from this cause would be rare, and no snag need 
ever sink or injure more than ove boat, at the worst, and with the snags 
removed, the river navigation would be far safer than that of lakes or ocean, 
and safer even than railways. 

Of course there are those who would like the plan of this great national 
highway from north to south better, if its Zoca/ion was different,—if it ran, 
for instance, through Indianapolis and Cincinnatiand Nashville ; or through 
Des Moines, Omaha and Fort Gibson to Galveston, or took a ‘‘chute” off 
through Tennessee and Georgia to Savannah ; and still others who would 
favor it heartily if it passed through their State or their county, and yet others 

who could see nothing but a swindle in it unless it passed by their village or 


18 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


within a convenient distance of their farm. To these it is enough to say that 
the planet was not created in that way, and that the United States cannot 
well afford the expense, at present, to make the little alteration they require. 
But were it otherwise, and could Mississippis be made to run through the 
country like irrigating ditches through a New Mexican farm, it is not at all 
probable they would be suited. One Mississippi is enough, and thus far 
one more than we have utilized as we might. 

We have given one railroad company, (the Northern Pacific), for a 
railroad that was not greatly needed, fifty millions of acres of land. At forty 
cents per acre—exclusive of Indian title (which we omitted to acquire; and 
which the railroad company will not, when war would be so much better for 
the company), the donation would be worth twenty millions of dollars. 
We have given to railroad companies, from the patrimony of posterity, 
more than two hundred millions of acres of land within the last few years, 
mostly (except the Union and Central Pacific Railroad, which was a very 
necessary work),* for purposes of speculation, inflation and expansion. 
Cannot the people now apply a few millions on their own great highway for 
their own present relief and future benefit, as a measure of political and 
national economy and naval defence, conserving all just interests and 
aiding and promoting all healthy development? Or shall it be defeated or 
delayed by apathy, by ignorance, by selfish and narrow sectional interests, 
east or west, or by bribery of officials, or intrigue, or subornation of the 
press, or the blather of demagozues, or by loading project upon project, or 
scheme upon scheme, sufficient to sink the whole? Doubtless the Ohio, 
the Missouri, ‘the Upper Mississippi and other rivers seed improving, 
(whether practicable or not), but which of all the great system is most 
national, will most benefit all the others, the whole great valley, the whole 
great plateau of the lakes and the nation at large, and give the surest, 
speediest and greatest benefits to the greatest number of people, and also to 
the greatest number of the diversified interests of the country, checking that 
insensible depletion and overloading, which excessive railroad building is 
bringing on the country ; cheapening transportation to and from the sea- 
board, both by northern or summer route and by southern or winter route, 
as well as by all the railway routes to the east, as no other one measure can. 
For from Cairo down the river is rarely obstructed by ice, and the depth of 
water is always ample for barges of the class described. So from Cairo the 
current of bulky freights would set south in winter time, when the lakes are 
closed and when ship-masters and sailors like to go to New Orleans, avoid- 
ing the hardship of coming on to the Atlantic coast off New York, or 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 19 


northward, in the inclement, cold and stormy winter ; when ropes and sails 
are frozen and stiff with ice, and lives and cargo and ship demand unspar- 
ing effort, even if hands and feet are frozen, and bodies drenched with the 
ice-cold water of the sea. But when summer comes, and the malaria of the 
south brings fevers to those not™acclimated, and the northern lakes and 
sea invite the navigator, and canals “are in order, then the freighting tide 
from Cairo and below will turn northward, and pass through to Chicago and 
east by the lakes, . } . 

The same class of barges would be adapted to the entire service, winter 
and summer, from Chicago to New Orleans, and in this way would be in 
service the entire year, or as regularly as railroad cars, thus greatly promoting 
the ability on the part of boatmen to carry freight low ; canal boats, barges, 
and all the water craft in use on northern waters exclusively, being laid up 
nearly half the year. And this is one reason why sea-going vessels going to 
mild climates in winter and in service most of the time from the day they 
are built, can afford to carry freight so low, with a profit.to their owners. 
And with safe, deep water navigation from Chicago to New Orleans, (with 
the entrance at the passes always accessible for large ships), that great high- 
way would soon give us, dy far, the lowest average of freight we have ever 
known, or ever can know elsewhere ; and far lower than it is or can be pos- 
sible to carry it all the way by railway to the sea, Mr. Adams and his 
remarkable estimate to the contrary, notwithstanding. Mr. Adams’ estimate 
is, in some respects, like certain estimates once made that corn could be 
produced in Illinois at five cents per bushel with a profit to the grower. 

The elevation at which the railroads approach the rivers would admit of 
some plan for transferring grain, by dumping or otherwise, at small ex- 
pense, and without warehousing, in many cases. So too, frequently, at New 
Orleans and Chicago, floating elevators could transfer at once from barges 
to vessels, saving, in many cases, all warehousing charges, risks and delays. 

On this great highway to the sea, three great cities now stand pre-eminent. 
Yet neither has,.as yet, seemingly realized 2m its fullness the practical idea 
of safe, continuous, deep-water navigation between gulf, rivers and lakes. 
And, strangely enough, the two of the north seem to have hardly realized 
the need of putting in this link, connecting the great chain of lakes with the 
rivers, to facilitate for each what must or should be in the future, (the near 
future), their greatest home industry—vhe working of Iron. 


And it is in this regard that the country at large has a vital interest in 
their advancement, (as well as in that of every other iron-working city or 
town in the country), far more than in their sales of fancy goods, their ele- 


20° THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER, 


gant buildings, or the prices of their corner lots. Heretofore, a large share 
of the intellectual force represented by the gentlemen of the western press 
has been expended in throwing sectional brickbats, for the edification of 
those of their readers who relish a little of this kind of fun. As, for instance, 
the badinage between the editors of Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis, 
like the triangular duel of Midshipman Easy, and the dispute in Congress 
between ‘‘learned and eloquent” senators as to whether the hay-crop of 
Massachusetts or the cotton. crop of South Garolina were most valuable. 
But alas! the crystal walls of the palace of the noblest utility and truest | 
beneficence may be thus shattered by intellectual brickbats,’ whether thrown 
by giants, or madmen, or boys, or blackguards, or demagoguess, or hirelings, 
or intellectual coxcombs, strutting their brief day of mischief: brief in 
eternity, but long—oh, how very long, in time ! 

Now, leaving all the past behind, may it not be that these cities,and many 
others, will give their united and efficient aid to promote unity, and fidelity 
untiring, in the accomplishment of this object, in which all the people upon. 
or near the lakes, or the remotest waters of the Mississippi, should join as 
one man, and legislate to complete this great central water-line of communi- 
cation from north to south, through the heart of their country—so wonder- 
ful in its extent, its tens of thousands of miles of connections, (by water and — 
by rail), provided by the God of Nature for their use, and requiring only 
a mere fraction of the annual waste, a tithe of the loss by the Chicago fire, 
a tithe of recent United States donations to railroads, to complete and make 
it the most valuable inland water-way on the whole earth ; and free for them 
and theirs—for their speedy relief and quick benefit, and for posTERITy, as 
some compensation for the lands so rashly given away, and the debt entailed 
upon them, securing to them firmly that which the beneficent foresight of 
men long dead secured to us. Why should we not improve and use it? 

But if other States, lying upon the trunk, or main, or lateral branches o¢ 
the great river system, or upon the lakes, should think that Illinois, by rea- 
son of her location, would reap a greater benefit than they, and so object to 
her reimbursement by the general government, for her expenditure on canal 
or river, —then let Illinois waive all claim for reimbursement, and give canal, 
lock and dam, all to Uncle Samuel, for the sake of the free use of his en- 
larged highway. Let nothing stand in the way of a work which will add an 
average of five cents per bushel to the value of the grain product of the 
Mississippi Valley, and help adjust its business, and the nation’s, on a safer, 
broader and_ better basis than it can possibly be otherwise. Will not the 
railroad men—as American transportation men—reflect that this most im- 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 21 


portant and neglected improvement of the great natural, central waterway, 
from north to south through the heart of the Mississippi Valley, connecting 
the lake and river systems, is what the nation needs, and that it will aid in 
the solution of the great question of inland transportation, and in restoring 
healthy action to the varied interests of the country, more than any other 
one measure can? 

The annual consumption of iron in the United States is now unparalleled 
in the history of the world, and so is the tremendous, and, (if continued 
and increased), fafa? drain it.is making upon the resources of the country. 
One-third of it is imported ; and it requires every dollar’s worth of pro- 
duce we can spare, and every ounce of gold and silver we can produce to 
meet our foreign trade balances and interest, and then they are not met, and 
cannot be. The whole production of iron in the world amounts to about 
thirteen million’ tons annually, (of which England produces one-half, ) and 
we consume fully three million tons annually. And how much is that 
gentle reader, do you know? We will try to illustrate it. Take a railroad 
-car andJoad upon ita full load—twenty thousand pounds. ‘Then place at 
the end of it another, and load it likewise, and another, and another, and 
so on, until ten miles in length of loaded cars is reached ; and will that be 
three million tons? Not quite, although that is the first-thought estimate of 
several gentlemen with whom we have conversed. But go on, dear reader, 
until you have a hundred miles of cars—two hundred, three hundred, five 
hundred, seven hundred—and then, dear reader, you will have about one 
million tons, or an average of four months’ consumption. 

And this it is proposed to increase, by various and vast double and even 
quadruple track railways, from east to west, which will, of course, want rates 
high enough to pay dividends. 

Speed the plow, oh farmer of America! ply swiftly the pick and bar, oh 
sun-browned miner of the Pacific slope and Rocky Mountains! for yours 
must be a task heavier yet than the past, and in the future, desperate and 
hopeless. And you, oh most mighty statesmen and lawgivers, see if you 
can spread the Eagle’s wings far enough to cover this in corn at twenty cents 
per bushel ! 

An ordinary tow-boat on the river that God has given us can take to tide- 
water a fleet of barges carrying six or eight thousand tons, or what would 
load an unbroken line of railroad cars five miles in length, and this tow- 
boat only costs as much as a first-class locomotive, and by the most admira- 
ble invention of this century—for steering—this vast mass can be guided on 
the bosom of the great river by one man, and the river, after it has passed, 


22 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


will not be worn or injured a particle. On the up-trip the steam-tug is able 
to tow the same number and size of barges with a moderate amount of 
freight, and make the round trip in about twenty days, say from the mouth 
of the Illinois to New Orleans and back. : 

But, says some one, wise in the lore of the daily papers, (which, when 
very large, and able to emit forty columns per day, are supposed to be infalli- 
ble, ) ‘‘we cannot ship corn to New Orleans, on account of the climate,” 

But we have shipped quantities that way years ago with good results, be- 
fore these absurd statements were so industriously circulated through such 
powerful and mischievous agencies, and in furtherence of such narrow and 
unscrupulous sectional interests, injuring the country at large for their own 
gain as they are. 

It is high time the people took the case in hand, and wrought a just 
and national reform, inducing a wise economy in transportation, substituting 
short hauls of from 30 to 300 miles by railways for long hauls of 700 to 1100 
miles ; lightening the vast burdens upon railroad tracks by improving cheaper 
means of carrying bulky and low-priced commodities, thus getting some 
profits from our exports, diminishing our imports, and promoting our inter- 
nal commerce and manufactures, aiding to expand our iron ‘production (not 
consumption) by greater facilities for cheaply combining the valuable ores 
and coals of the west for manufacture, and for distributing the products after- 
wards. eet 

Grangers and Clubs ! You have organized for a purpose, and a good pur- 
pose ; will you not take this measure into the center of your serried column 
and adopt it as your own, your country’s cause—to you, especially, it is com- 
mended, by one who has always been a faithful and devoted worker, and 
who is not without experience of the hardships of the worker, the’ farmer, 
the merchant, the boatman and the miner, and who realizes fully the ad- 
verse influences and internal dangers you have to encounter 

To err is human, yet yours seems in the main, though peculiar, yet a gen- 
uine,true movement of the people, as though inspired by Heaven for ultimate 
good ; and maya greater than human wisdom guide you, broaden and cor- 
rect your work, and give you andall true citizens speedy and peaceful suc- 
cess in all safe and just reforms, 


OUR TIMES. 


’ 


EREWITH we give some extracts from the daily papers, giving 
‘® reports from N ew Orleans, and the mouth ofthe river, at the time 
ofthe visit of the members of Congress, in May. It seems scarcely 
’ possible, that men could be so base as to purposely ground ves- 
sels, or des:roy or injure peaceful commerce for the sake of gain. If 
it be true, or liable to occur hereafter, the laws should be so amended as 
to make it piracy, and provide for their speedy trial and punishment as pirates: 
And when there is a sufficient depth of water, the tow-boats should be 
held responsible in pecuniary damages, for the grounding of any vessel 
to which she may be attached, unless it can be shown to have been unavoid- 
able, and if necessary a U. S. Admirality court should be constituted, and 
kept constantly in session at New Orleans, and if that fails, let an associa- 
tion of shipmasters, sailors, shippers and river men be empowered to let 
down at the passes in some kind of a joint High Commission ; by some 
just and fair, yet speedy and, inéxpensive process, and with as little chance 
as possible for pettifogying, chicanery and evasion or cheating of justice. 


[Special Dispatch to the Chicago Tribune.] 
NEW ORLEANS, May 24. 

The Congressional party returned from the mouth of the river at 8 a. m., and 
jeave by special train for the North at 4 p.m. 

The partisans of both Kellogg and McEnery are doing all they know to gain ad-. 
herents among the Congressmen, and they have so far succeeded that a few Rep- 
resentatives will remain over and partake of the private hospitalities of Kellogg, 
Warmoth, McEnery, and other politicians. None of the Congressmen have com- 
mitted themselves to, an espousal of either sids, but they listen eagerly to all 
statements in order to take action in the next Congress, and nearly all the Repre- 
sentatives are pledged to support the Fort St. Philip Canal scheme. It is judged 
feasible, there being only one lock requisite,and the remainder of the work con- 
sists of mere excavating, except at the mouth of the river, where some jetties are 
to be put up. The cost will be $6,000,000 to $7,000,000. An attempt is made to 
load this simple scheme withall sorts of improvements, estimated to cost nearly 
- $30,000,000 in the aggregate, but the Congressmen are unanimous that the scheme 
will-not bear loading with anything else. 

The present channels were 17 feet deap, and can be kept by the present appro- 
priations at a conven‘ent depth of 29 feet, but the Government dredging officers 
complain that the Tow-Boat Company, which is said to be owned by the Custom- 


24 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


House ring, with Grant’s brother-in-law, Casey, at their ‘head, deliberately run 
ships ashore. When they are forced to tow them in, they pretend there is no 
water. When they can avoid towing them in they do so, preferring to let them 
stick in the mud until the tugs are called to tow them off into port, at the rate 
of $100 per hour. The officers say they can keep up a constant depth of 20: 
feet, but, with such a game as this going on, is is practically useless to do so. 
They therefore favor the canal. Some anger was displayed by the friends of the 
Tug-Boat Company at these candid disclosures, but Lieut. Glynn, Maj. Howell, 
and Capt. Davis did not flinch. A pilot testified that he had run a vessel ashore 
by orders, so as to secure the $100 per hour for the Tow-Boat Company. 

Mr. Sypher, one of Kellogg’s members of Congress, and ex-Govenor Warmoth., 
yesterday evening, had a sharp battle of words on board the boat, and an exchange 
of pistol shots was momentarily expected. Sypher charged Warmoth with hay- 
ing perpetuated the biggest steals in Louisiana ever known, and Warmoth retort- 
ed that Sypher was mad because he did not have a hand i be 

Both*parties are deluging the Congressmen, who listen a great deal and say 
nothing, with political addresses, tracts, and pamphlets. 

No effect whatever was produced by Grant’s proclamation. It is regarded as. 
having been insisted on by Senator Carpenter, and Senator Carpenter is regarded 
as a man who has stated views here that are in,direct opposition to the views he 
expressed to his constituents in Wisconsin. The people have lost faith in him, 
and speak of him as one who is as ready to do Grant’s bidding as any of the Radi- 
cals. He certainly seems hereto be hand-in-glove with Kelloge, if all that is said 
batrue, and his public utterances are exactly what one would not have expected 
of hin. WR 

No language can describe the bitter feeling here. Nearly to a man the mer- 
chants, traders and better classes insist that their choice, and the choice of the 
people, was McEnery, and they angerly denounce the Federal Government for in- 
terfering. They say that if Grant would withdraw his troops, they would ‘hy 
their own affairs themselves inside of ten hours. 


| Fo the Associated Press. | 
NEW ORLEANS, May 24. 

The Hvening Times has the following : 

At 8 o’clock in the morning, the time appointed for the departure of the Belle 
Lee on her trip to the passes with the Congressional delegates’and their friends, 
passengers by twos and threes walked up the stages of this boat. They gathered 
in large numbers on the forward deck to await the coming of others who were to 
make up the full complement of the excursion party. By 9a. m., all the Con- 
gressmen, all the wicker baskets, with numbers labelled on them, and all the ice’ 
and their fixings, were safely aboard ; the mate shouted out in hoarse tones : 
“Cast loose your head lines !” and, with two or three snorts from her escape- 
pipes, the floating palace backed out from the wharf, her cannon pealed forth a 
farewell salute, the band burst forth with a triumphant air, the thousand on the 
wharf waved and cheered, and the boat, turning her head up the stream, after 
passing the long line of shipping which lines our wharves up to Jackson street, 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 2 
» 


Cay 


curved round into the strong current of the middle, and sought the mouth of the 
great river which bears the wealth and the bounty of the earth from the moun- 
tains to the sea. A peal of artillery saluted the excursionists as they went by the 
United States barracks, and was still being fired when the swift steamer reached 
the earth-works of the old battle-ground and the monument of the gallant Pack- 
enham, all of which were kindly pointed out and eagerly sought by the strangers. 
The great cane-fields, the banana and orange groves, all had their charms for the 
visitors, for the sights of the growth of a semi-tropic clime were very interesting 
ito men who had come from the great States of the West, where, although a gener- 
ous soil brings the harvest, the days of verdure are more limited in number. They 
seemed especialy interested in what was formerly the residence of Judah P. Ben- 
jamin, on the Belle Chasse plantation, now owned by Mr. Stackhouse, and 
they spoke of the glory the expatriated statesman is gaining by his talent in an- 
other land. This place is one of the finest in the State, and the beautiful dwel- 
ling and grounds are calculated to excite the admiration of all who behold them. 

Jesuit’s Bend, one of the great rice-producing districts of Louisiana, next occu- 
pied their attention, and occasioned much comment from our visitors, who looked 
at the green fields and made comparisons between the enormous financial returns 
of this product and the wheat of the Northwest. Passing these, the boat soon 
reached Myrtle Grove, which the band saluted with the old sweet air, ‘““ Home, 
Sweet Home,” as a tribute to those who are living there. The magnificent estate 
of Mr. Bradish Johnson attracted a great deal of attention, and the neat, trim 
fields of these plantations showed many on what a grand scale sugar was former- 
ly cultivated in this State, for in old times all the places werelike these. The far- 
famed plantation of Mr. Lawrence, at Magnolia, had been anxiously inquired at- 
ter by the Congressmen, who had heard in other States of this place, and were 
very desirous of seeing it. They were not disappointed, for soon its immense 
green fields of cane burst on the view, and many were the exclamations of delight 
with which its first appearance was greeted. In the big fields were four locomo- 
tive engines, dragging ponderous steam-plows through the soil, besides many oth- 
er great objects, such as the sugar-house, which is a massive building, and the 
orange grove, which the Sicilian fruit-sellers say is the largest in the world. The 
men from the great western farm country were especially interested in the steam- 


plows, and their meaning exclamation when they saw them was, “That means 
business.” 
At Magnolia the boat rounded to, and took on board the Hon. Effingham Law- 


rence, who was most enthusiastically received and warmly greeted by all on. 
board. Passed the rice fields and rice mills of Pointe Ala Hache, the boat pro- 
ceeded on her way till Forts Jackson and St. Philip were in sight. The frowning 
guns of these grim fortifications recalled the smoke and flame they hurled forth 
jn our civil war, but the old rebels and the Northern Congressmen laughed and 
told stories of the war, which showed that those on board were at least reunited. 

The great object of interest on the trip was the site of the Fort St. Philip Canal, 
which has already been surveyed. When the small building that makes the pro- 
posed beginning of the work hove in sight, the deck was thronged by those who 
were anxious to see even the markings of this great scheme. The Congressmen. 


20 a THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


of the west looked at the narrow strip of low alluvial which bars the great rive, 
from the deep waters of the gulf, and seemed to see at once the great importance 
of the project. They spoke of the feasibility and cheapness of cutting through 
this narrow neck, and foretold the great results accruing from it to the great val- 
ley. They were infused with ardor at the prospect of having an unobstructed 
outlet for the pent-up graneries of the west. They seemed to enter into the pro- 
ject with heart, head and soul, and one especially was so much carried away as, 
to say, “ We will make New Orleans and St. Louis yet the great rivals of New 
‘York, and ten years will see the fullfillment of this prophesy.” 


After arriving at the proposed route of this canal, and stopping there long 
enough: for all parties to make their observations, the boat started again on her 
trip to Pass Al Ontre. Before reaching their destination the gong sounded for 
dinner, the viands and wine of which were in keeping with other hospitalities ex- 
tended on the occasion of this distinguished visit. The excursionists discussed 
the topics of the day with the merits of pompous roast-beef and turkey, while 
their appetites were superinduced by the fresh, balmy gulf breezes which had 
been blowing all day. The substantial salads and liquids of life occupied them 
for some time, and the feast was truly one of reason, while the after-feast had an 
abundant flow of soul and kindly sentiment. The champagne sparkling in many 
goblets with the sparkle of wit and repartee for a long time kept the company 
full of life, hamor,and happiness. Even a poor joke was at one time respected, 
and even relished, because all parties had an excessively kindly feeling toward 
each other. But the,bounteous feast was at last brought to a close. Those whe 
were able 1o overcome the somniferous influence of a good dinner left the Belle at 
the Pass Al’Ontre Station, where she had to stopped, and, embarked on the “Beau- 
tiful Creole,’ sought the open gulf beyond the bar. With an inspiring air, the 
band bade farewell for a while to those who chose to‘remain, and the more lively 
excursionists sought deep waters outside the bar. The sound of the surf and the 
life-giving sea-breeze seemed to impart new vigor to these dwellers on the land, 
while with a foaming bow the swift steamer cleft the green waves. Everybody 
was interested in the dim lines of smoke which was raising far at sea below the 
horizon, and where now and then a dark steamer or tow passed. The band gave 
a lively greeting as they glided by. 

In her course the Creole passed near the dredge-boat, E. 8S. Sayons, which was 
hard at work dredging out the channel. Those who had often heard of this ves- 
sel and her operations for the benefit of commerce were particularly interested in 
watching her removing the mud. The Creole, after running a short distance out 
to sea, returned to the bar, which the steamer Alabama was crossing at the time. 
Soundings were taken in going across for the benefit of the excursionists, who 
seemed surprised at the depth of the water. Then up the Pass by the light-house 
standing like a grim sentinel on the land, she wended her way back to the boat 
which was quietly awaiting ler return. The Creole transferred the passengers 
who had gone out to the bar back to the Belle Lee at 7 A. M., and the latter steam- 
ver, backing out of the Pess Al’Ontre wharf, started on the homeward-bound" trip. 
Shortly after supper, a convention was called in the ladies cabin, which consisted 


‘ THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 27 


of all the members of the Congressional delegates and many distinguished citi- 
zens of New Orleans. The meeting was called to order with Mayor Wiltz in the 
chair, and was addressed by J. H. Oglesby, Esq., and Judge Kennard, who demon- 
strated all the advantages of the Mississippi export route over all by rail and 
canal commercial lines in the country. They brought up figures and facts to sub- 
stantiate their assertions, and then how cheaply this St. Philip Canal could be ex- 
cavated, and how a vessel of any draught or tonnage would be able to come to 
our port, while now the bar obstructions kept heavy vessels from coming in, and 
thus occasioned a great scarcity of export tonnage at New Orleans. 

After our citizens had expressed their views on the subject of the necessity of 
this canal, the immense advantages it would bring to the West, the Congresmen 
of many States were called on, and each gave his opinion on the scheme in a 
short speech. More than twenty Congressmen of the west and south, men of 
influence and standing, took the floor, and all entertained the same opinion as to 
the necessity of this canal. They condemned the legislation of the government 
for so long neglecting the Mississippi River, and said that as the last Congress 
just appropriated $4,000,000 to paving the streets of Washington with asphaltum 
and wood, that it should atleast pay 6,000,000 to the completion of a scheme 
which was of paramount importance to the whole western and southern country. 
They said that eastern railroad monopolists ,had crushed the products of the west 
too long, and that the fact of not finding a route for exporting their produce was 
getting to be a question of starvation with the immense population of these States; 
that a quantity of grain had been burnt during the past year because it would not 
pay the cost oftransportation ; that this was the route that the God of Nature 
had marked out as the outlet to the great graneries of the west, and down this 
route the grain was bound to come. They hinted that if the men of the east 
could find no better way of spending their power than decorating the Capitol 
and big seaboard towns, they would combine with the south and move the Goy- 
ernment Capitol and all to St. Louis, where it would be better cared for. They 
said that New Orleans was destined to become the great city of the continent, and 
that no city in the world possessed so many natural advantages. They intended, 
to aman, to bring this matter of giving the Mississippi a deep outlet before Con - 
gress at its next session, and force action upon it. They had all decided to give 
it their firm support, and some said that, if $50,000,009 were necessary to this, 
they would demand it from the National Government, as a right of the west. 

The Kanawha and the Savanah canal routes were then discussed, but this of the 
Mississippi they considered of paramount importance to all others. They said 
that Mexico and the Antiles were tempting objects that were waiting for us to step 
in and take them, and relirve them from their miserable Government ; and that, 
with the accession of these, New Orleans would be their great port of exchange. 

Major Howell, United States Engineer, was called upon to give his views, and 
express his opinion as to the feasibility of the project ; also to state the result of 
his-survey. This gentleman clearly illustrated the feasibility of the scheme. He 
told them that the proposed connection of the canal with the Mississippi was six 
miles below Fort St. Philip, and it would have to be dug nearly out to the Breton 
Island channel, where there was thirty feet of water at low tide. He also explain. 


, 


28 THE LANDMAKK AND OBSERVER. 

‘ed the manner in which the banks were to be kept from being washed in. He 
stated that a great objection had been made to the project on the supposition that 
the ground below was not firm enough to bear the foundation of the locks, but 
recent boring has discovered a splendid base whereupon the foundation could be 
built. 

Before the Convention adjourned, Mayor Wiltz read the delegation an invitation 
extended them by the Mayor of Vicksburg, to visit that city, which was declined. 

Gen. Hayes then made an eloquent speech to the Convention, after which, at 1 
A. M., the members being much wearied, it adjourned. 

The Committee of Arrangements have done everything in their power to render 
the trip agreeable to the excursionists, and, if the faces of all are indices to their 
feelings, every one has enjoyed himself to the fullest extent. 

Great hopes are expressed by all parties in the results of this ocular demon- 
stration to the members of Congress of the state of our channel, and they say, 
cost what it may, they are going to help us along every way. 


THE “BAR AT NEW ORLEANS, 


At the St. Louis Conference of menbers of Congress, General Bussey, of New 
Orleans, presented himself to invite the assemblage, on its return from Galveston, 
to visit the Crescent City, and in his speech he said : 

“We are here not to ask you to do a charitable act, but to demand our rights. 
We are not here to.ask that you shall remove from the National Government of 
the United States that which is in the eyes of all Europe a disgrace to-day, and 
that is the impossibility of an English ship to reach one of the most important 
rivers on the face of the globe. I tell you, gentlemen, if you will accept the in- 
vitation which we propose to extend to you, and come to New Orleans, then you 
will understand why it is that the farmers of Illinois, lowa and Missouri are im- 
poverished and wifhout money to pay their taxes. I tell you, gentlemen, that the 
thing that ails the city of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana to-day is be- 
cause our commerce is fettered, and because the men that ought to be unloading 
our ships are to-day without the power of feeding their women and children. And 
this is the reason why our warehouses are filled with the products of this great 
north country, without the ability to send them to market, and we have been com- 
pelled to telegraph to St. Louis : “ Dont send anything more down ; our ware. 
houses are full ; we can’t pay our drafts ; we can’t ship anything.” To-day we 
could load twenty of the largest ships that sail the ocean with the article of tobac- 
co alone. But there is no vessel there ; we can’t take it away. These are facts 
that will apply to your barrels of pork and your barrels of flour as well.” 

This gentleman states the truth, and nothing more. There is enough cotton 
and tobacco that might be shipped from New Orleans to furnish regular freights 
to seventy-five steamers. One immediate trouble is, that the mouth of the river 
is so interrupted by bars that heavy-laden vessels can neither enter nor depart. 
New Orleans thinks that if the mud were dug out, and an open channel main- 
tained, things would be different.—Chicago Tribune, May 19th, 1878. 

The steamer City of Memphis, which had been on the bar at the mouth of the 
Mississippi river about a month, got off a few days ago, and went to sea, but find- 


/ 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 29 


ing her propeller damaged, returned to New Orleans for repairs. Her large cargo 
bulk corn, was returned to the elevator, to enable the steamer to enter the docks. 
The corn was found in perfect order throughout. It had been on board 36 days. 
—Chicago Times, May 31st, 1878. 
THE MISSISSIPPI PASSES. 
NEw YorK, June 20. 

A letter from New Orleans says that there is almost as secure a blockade of the 
Mississippi river now‘as when the United States fleet cruised off its mouth, and 
that the passes are choking with detritus, and each year increases the difficulties of 
navigation. Congress had appropriations for experiments in dredging, but the 
tow-boat monopolies actively conspire to prevent a successful prosecution of the 
work.—Chicago Tribune, July 2nd, 1878. 

AND YET, 

At this hour,while passage over the bar at the mouth of the great river is ob7 
structed with mud, and millions upon millions of people are injured there- 
by, and many are ruined, a great military expedition (granted by the 
terms of the charter by Congress to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company) 
is penetrating a howling wilderness, in aid of a vast scheme of speculation 
—the building of a very costly railroad where there are no white people (save 
those taken there by the railroad expenditure) for a distance far greater than 
that from Chicago to New Orleans, (or from Chicago to New York); wild 
railroad speculation which nothing can sustain save immense subsidies of 
land, supplemented, perhaps, by the disbursements of expensive, useless and 
wicked wars, caused by gveed more insatiate than that of ancient Rome, 
and bringing the same injuries to the poor, to society, to the nation and to 
posterity. 

From the Special Correspondent of the Chicago Inter-Ocean of June 25th, 1878. 

THE YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION. 

The mammoth Yellowstone expedition, the engineering party of which left Fort 
Lincoln Monday last to take up its general route from the Heart river, is estimated 
as containing as high as 3,000 men. ‘Thirteen hundred mules are required to 
transport supplies sufficient for the expedition until it reaches the navigable wat- 
ers of the Yellowstone, and 1,000 tons of freight have been shipped upon steamers 
at Bismarck for its use beyond the Yellowstone and on the return. 

Some of you would like to know what the object of this imposing caravan is. 
It is well known that the Northern Pacific Railway is now running daily trains 
‘from Lake Superior to the Missouri river, a distance of 480°’ miles, Well, this 
company is desirous of extending its track, and as the proposed line runs through 
a country.infested with sanguinary red skins, the labor of survey and construction 
is attended with considerable risk to scalp-locks. Very fortunately, for the North- 
ern Pacific Company, however, they had the forethought to see when they secured 
their charter that the peace policy would not have effected perfect safety to-pale- 
faced operators in those regions by the time when it would be necessary for them 


30 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


to operate there, and, therefore, they secured in the charter ample protection by 
the government against any and all Indian tribes along the line. From the 
Missouri westward to the mountains no part of the line has been definitely 
located, although several unsuccessful attempts have been made. A force of 
nearly 1,000 men, under General Stanley, failed to accomplish that object last 
year. 

This year the force is expected to be ample to insure protection tothe engineers: 
It consists of some sixteen companies of infantry and ten of cavalry, a battery of 
light artillery, and about 100 Indian scouts. It is under command of General 
Stanley. General Custar also accompanies the expedition. The engineering 
party is under the command of General T. L. Rosser, Engineer of the Dakota 
division of the road. A scientific party of six or seven gentlemen, representing 
the different departments of natural history, accompanies the expedition. 

FIRST FIRE. 

Monday last the engineering party left Fort Lincoln, opposite Bismarck, with’ 
an escort of six companies of infantry. They were to be joined in about ten days 
by the main body of the escort, which started on Wednesday following from Fort 
Rice, twenty-five miles below Lincoln, expecting to intersect the other party 
When two miles out of Fort Lincoln, on Tuesday, the engineering party was at- 
tacked by 150 Sioux. A brisk skirmish followed between the infantry and their 
Ree scouts, in which four Sioux were killed and a pony captured. One Ree boy 
was wounded. The party continued its journey after the skirmish. 

The route of the expedition will be somewhat north of the line of 1871, from 
the valley of Heart river, and will strike the Yellowstone near the mouth of Glen 
dine Creek. Thence it will proceed up the Yellowstone, 150 miles above the mouth 
of Powder river, thence across the divide in a northern direction to the valley of 


the: Musselshell, thence to connect with the survey made last year by Mr. Hay- 
den. ) 


BOUL Rye Ad ie: 


HE local jealousies of States, or any State, east or west, north 
or South, or any city or section, always to be considered in 
the light of that just consideration which would tend to con- 
serve and guard all just interests, should never be allowed to 

stand in the way of great measures of national economy, utility and de- 


fence. 

But how has it been? 

We have always had many good and able men in our national Congress, 
but have we had.a majority who came up to the full measure of true nation- 
ality, and who would do right for the sake of the right, without regard to 
personal benefits or applause, or re-election? It is very natural and right 
that members should consider the interests of their constituents, but in a 
national Congress, should not these be considered in the light of safional 
interests ? 

For morethan thirty years, when under some spasm of Congressional ap~ 
propriation, there were any snag boats on the Mississippi, they have in- 
variably ‘‘laid up” when the weather became warm and the water low. Just 
at the very time when they could work most efficiently, and with most ben- 
efit, they have ceased working. 

Why is this ? Suppose when the stormy weather of winter and spring is 
over, the light keepers should all abandon their work and leave the coast- 
line dark until-November? What kind of service would that be? And yet 
the same governmental power has controlled the one as the other. 

It may be, indeed, that western and south-western members have been 
in fault for want of real interest, thoroughness of work and practical knowl- 
edge to be derived czly from practical men. Perhaps too, sometimes all 
work for the government, instead of being guided by practical intelligence 
and fidelity properly paid—is liable too much to be controlled by unprin- 
cipled, greedy and selfish speculators and destructionists, always the deadly 
bane and blight of all healthy enterprise. 

But whatever the cause, we {want reform, and that reform can easily give 
us an adequate and regular service, andso remove the snags and logs, that 
accidents from this cause would be almost unknown. 


32 ‘a THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


The roots when cut off have often been so left as to be almost as much in 
the way as the whole tree, which of course ought not to be, and could easily 
be avoided, . 

This clearing the river would not only promote the safety of navigation at 
all times beyond all ‘computation, but would also in various ways lessen all 
the troubles of low water. It would also enable boat owners and builders to 
use lighter timbers and planking, and‘so lessen the cost of construction, in- 
crease the carrying capacity, and diminish the cost of towing, especially on 
the up-trips. 

Of course, it would be absurd to expect as heavy a dredging force at every 
sand-bar on the upper river as at the mouth, yet most of the practical men 
agree that at certain times, a judicious, well-directed dredging service, al- 
ways in readiness, with stations at central points, could do much practical 
good, and at a comparatively small expense, it not -being necessary to take 
away the sediment in mud scows, but only to loosen it up or stir it by the 
use of the wheel or revolving dredge ; the old river itself will do the rest, 
cheerfully, and without pay, bribes, coaxing, or lobbying. 

It isa noble old river, willing and able, if decently treated, to be the 
father of the inland transportation of the Union, helping every railroad, 
helping every corn and cotton grower and consumer, every miner and man- 
ufacturer, and aiding to promote to the people reduction of expense, reduction 
of debt, better political morals, and sounder prosperity. 


God made the river, but man made the railroads, and a high triumph of 
mechanical art, they are, truly, but far too expensive to supplant the great 
river altogether, in the use for which it was given us. 


And let it be remembered that we do not own the sea, or the lakes, but 
the river is the nation’s exclusively, and here, if war comes, navies can be 
most securely built, and in the deeper water of the Chicago river ; and below 
the mouth of the Red river, equipped for service on lakes and seas. 


Many of the barges now in use between St. Louis and New Orleans will 
carrry 1600 tons each, (or what would load more than a mile of railroad 
cars), freighting corn through, this season, at seven cents per bushel. The 
dumping of railroad cars loaded with coal on to barges, is now practiced, 
and can probably be applied to grain, and an expense saved. ‘The tow- 
boats now in use will easily tow from three to five of these barges, though 
~ more are often taken in high water, and the use of BALANCE RUDDERS on the 
steam tug gives a wonderful facility for handling so vast a weight in so 
strong a current. Probably, no s¢mg/e invention so valuable as the balance 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 33 


rudder has been applied to navigation on the Mississippi, since the introduc- 
tion of steam. 

As to ‘‘hot corn,” &c., the cause of this is the water the grain contains, 
which is a larger per cent. than in any other grain. If shelled in the winter, 
or at any time before this is exhausted by the drying winds or by artificial 
heat, the corn is liable to heat on somebody’s hands, if kept long ; but if 
thoroughly dry before shelling, it will keep, and can safely be exported or 
shipped anywhere, by any route ; otherwise it cannot. Usually, corn prop- 
erly handled and kept on the cob until the end of May, and then shelled, 
can safely be shipped by any route. If shelled in the winter following 
its growth, it would be safer and better to ship ¢en by the southern route, 
than to wait for the opening of the lakes and New York canals. Abundant 
shipments have proved fully that these objections to the gulf route have 
been largely magnified, and that all that is needed is the reasonable inprove- 
ment of the river and bar at the entrance, to make it the great auxiliary to 
all other means and routes, for exportation and for inland transportation, 
and all interior commerce : while the connection of the harbor of Chicago 
with the rivers, by the widened and deepened canal, would give this city 
facilities for manufacturing, (especially in cheapening coal), it never can 
otherwise possess, and she whole lake country would enjoy great benefits from 
this connection, in many ways; and in the event of war, the om/y means we 
have of bringing a fleet to the lakes. And fleets could be constructed then 
in places easily secured from all approach by the combined navies of the 
world. Of course, it is to be hoped that this contingency will never occur. 
But look at the mighty and increased armaments, on land and sea, con- 
stantly maintained by Great Britain and all Europe ; then look at our own 
Situation, and reflect whether any one measure of defence, costing so little, 
would equal this in efficiency for national defence. 

The proposed ship canal below Fort St. Philip, below New Orleans, 
may be practicable. It is estimated to cost at least six millions of dollars. 
This, at six per cent., would yield nearly twelve hundred dollars per day, 
for all the working days in the year, and this would pay for more than double 
the amount of dredging at the passes ever done there, and would probably 
be all-sufficient. The present season, it is said, there were only two dredges 
there, and, being liable to get out of repair, would often have to be sent to 


_ New Orleans for repairs. 


It is said that ‘Aree, regularly in service, would have been enough. Of 
course, a reserve is wanted to guard against accident. This is the view of 
Captain Rea and other very practical men, and probably of Major Howell, 


34 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


of the United States service, who has had charge of the work. But the /rue 
friends of an open route will all certainly agree that it is a work to be 
accomplished and kept good by the Federal government on the safes? plan, as 
a matter of justice to all. Fora large part of the year, it is said, there is 
little dre dging needed, and the more steamships pass, the less dredging there 
is to do. 

Will the friends of the St. Philip canal reflect on this plan of an ample 
dredging force? Ofcourse, the people of N ew Orleans must see to abating 
the enormous port charges and cost of towing, &c., and other abuses within 
their control, but the zzzfal point of the matter is the improvements referred 
to. These, too, will tend to greatly cheapen coal from the north, and make 
ita great coaling station, and promote the use of steamships, and the same 
benefit, (cheaper coal), will accrue to St. Louis, Chicago and other places. 
Chicago, with the improved water route south, will have a command of 
the coal fields, at rates lower than can ever otherwise be had, and so by 
manufactures anchor her prosperity securely. 

As an illustration of the general benefits that would accrue to the country 
for example, corn could be taken from Chicago at ten or eleven cents per 
bushel, as well (for boat owners), as at seven from St. Louis, and this in 
early spring or late in the fall and beginning of winter, when the lakes are 
dangerous, (if navigable at all), and tonnage scarce and freights high, 
would aid the packer, shipper and producer very greatly. For instance, 
early last spring, when freight charges were highest, rates were on corn and 
wheat as high, at one time, as sixteen to eightéen cents per bushel to Buffalo, 
thence to New York about twelve cents. Now, could some large barges 
from St. Louis and other points have gone to Chicago and taken southward, 
say even two or three millions of bushels, as soon as the canal and river 
could be navigated, and so relieved the pressure upon the Chicago elevators 
and lake shipping, it would have prevented the friction of those corners in 
freight rates, so very sharp for the shipper and producer, and have tended to 
maintain the equilibrium of ‘all interests, and values, and routes; and pro- 
mote the general welfare, which is not promoted by excessive accumulation 
of fat in one place, and excessive leanness elsewhere. For, allowing some- 
thing for a little higher ‘rates from New Orleans to Liverpool than from 
New York, there would then have been a’difference in favor of the owners of 
corn of from 25 to 40 per cent. on its value. 

The farmers of Livingston county, Ills., have been amongst the most 
ultra for reform, so let us make an illustration there. From Fairbury to 
New York, last winter, when the lakes were closed, the freight on corn was 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 35 


forty-two cents per bushel, at a time when corn was only worth twenty 
cents. Now, by rail to Cairo and barge to New Orleans, twenty-five cents 
per bushel would pay the carriers probably as well as forty-two to New York 
by the all-rail route. For the winter months, freight to Europe from New 
Orleans should not be higher than from New York, when the great interior 
arteries work healthfully, but if we allow three cents per bushel more on 
ocean freight, there is still a difference left of fourteen cents per bushel in 
favor of the owner of the corn shipped wa the river and rail, instead of the 
all-rail route to the seaboard. In other words, the farmer would get thirty - 
four cents per bushel for his corn instead of twenty cents per bushel, or an 
increase of seventy per cent., with the same profit to the merchant and carrier, 
and all this merely by the substitution (in most of the great transit), of a 
very cheap for a very costly way of carrying freight, and without touching 
the question of extortion and overcharge by carriers, but leaving that out of 
the estimate, for the one route would be as well paid as the other, —at least, 
the difference would be trivial. The difference in time of transit would nog 
exceed three or four days to the sea-board, and thence by steam to, say Liv- 
erpool, about the same; and if by sail a proportionate difference ; and as 
to the warm current of the gulf stream, eavy ships bound for Europe can- 
not cross the Bahama banks, as the coasters do, but pass to the south of 
Cuba, and so are not much in it, if in it at all. 

And all this great work of economy, of averting financial and _ political 
disaster, which no man can measure any more than he can measure the 
whirlwind, or the storm of human passion and folly in revolutions, when 
human action and error reach their climax, and can go no farther ; all this 
great work for national defence and fora great initial point in real reform, 
will cost—what? Simply an agreement of unity of action, and an expendi- 
ture of less than one cent on the dollar of the aggregate cost of the railways, 
less than one cent on the dollar of the specie we have dug, or about one- 
tenth the value of recent United States donations to railroads, of which the 
people do not own one mile. But this waterway is theirs by inheritance and 
by the gift of God, and can be improved and transmitted to posterity. 

Moreover, the work will cost only about she price of the national consump- 
tion of tron for one month, But, on the other hand, its saving benefits in 
their various ways, phases and amount, and also in their far-reaching and 


beneficent results, cannot be computed. 


“A thousand years scarce serve to form a state, 
An hour may lay it in the dust ; 
And when can man its splendors renovate, 
Recall its glories back, or vanquish time and fate.” 


36 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


Professor Creesy, in his admirable and unrivalled “work, discloses to the 
student, upon what an imminent and narrow verge the fate of nations de- 
pend, and how small, seemingly, the events that turn the scale. He treats 
of battles, it is true, but they are the result of separate affairs, and his great 
lessons should not be lost on us. All times have their dangers, and if ours — 
are safe, then all history’s lessons are indeed vain. | 


CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN. 


SHE Japan Gazefe prints a translation of a letter which has ap- 
€ peared in the native paper, Minato Shimbun under the heading 
SZ aS of the “Christian Religion.” The latter, after discussing the 
g Y@@ various forms of religion which had been national in Japan, con- 


cludes as follows : 

“In various countries of the West, there is the system of worship of the Lord of 
Heaven, which forbids the worship of idols of wood or stone. . 

“Tt teaches that which is of daily use to men, and the tendency is towardan in- 
creasingly careful observance of its precepts. Its teachers, in proclaiming its 
doctrines, teach what is for the benefit of‘all, and, thus silencing a narrow spirit, 
they incite to a broader and better, which teaching is the secret of the cizilization 
of the West. 

‘‘Since the Government of the Tenno has been renovated, the time has come for 
- the abandonment of evil habits. A religion there must be, but if Shintoism is 
proposed, we know not how to teach it. If Confucianism or Buddhism, these will 


5 >) 


not do. 
“Tf, therefore, despising the foolish charge of changing the national customs and 


of defiling the country, the religion of Jesus be introduced, it will be well for the 
people. Nor will such a course involve any thing incompatible with the customs 


of the country or true reverence for our ancestry. 
“Tf this religion should be tolerated, it would spread like fire in the dry grass of 


the plain when lighted at a hundred points. 
“Should some who hate this religion break out in rebellion, this, by the thought- 


fulness of the followers of the new religion, might be easily subdued.” 

Let the Japanese, however, not imitate the ‘‘ Western Nations’ 
quackery of vast standing armies, and useless, exhaustive and expentive 
wars, such as Carlisle glorifies and the world applauds. 

The Shah of Persia paid great attention to the drill of his army, -discard- 
ing French officers and tactics, and introducing Prussian — (after the 
Franco-Prussian war) —and this while the people were starving by the thou- 
sands. And yet the rulers of Europe now vie with each other in doing 
honor to this Oriental robber of the starving poor over whom he holds ab- 
solute sway. If there are not some reasons of state connected with this, it 
must be another illustration of ‘‘ that demagoguism which is spreading 
throughout the world,” as bad among the potentates and people of Europe, 


; 


in the 


38 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


its press and its literary men, as it is and has been in America. The /rue 
practice, however, will keep them clear of the quackery, and abate the evils 
of ambition and avarice, and bring them to the golden age of love. 


A Ne CERINA LePRINCIPLES SIRs 


E have a large number of people constantly endeavoring to 
construct what is called a perpetual motion. We have also 
had the peculiar curse of large numbers of people and 

way politicians, endeavoring to construct /heordes that shall be 

a and run forever, and before which facts shall bow or be over- 

turned. 

These are SCRA one-idea people, and their numbers are most formid - 
able. 

Dogma is with them, a club with which they strike right and left. With 
them a square or a cube has but one side, and that is their side. The 
great cable of truth has but one strand, and that is securely tied to their dog- 
ma. There is but one move on the checker-board, and that is their move. 

Times, and seasons, and circumstances may vary infinitely, but a sound 
principle, they say, never varies, and theirs is always the sound principle, the 
unvarying thing, more than planets, or worlds, or suns. 

Somewhat of this character are the interminable arguments, showing the 
infallibility of tariffs and free trade—respectively ; abstract ideas, versus—the 
practical facts of business. 

Of course these men (devoted solely to a great principle, you know) never 
have a word to say about the neglected little matter of a distinctive national 
. policy, in the light of which these questions could be considered properly. 
There is some truth in both theories, and both are capable of being har- 
monized when brought out of the interminable labyrinths of dogmatic dis- 
cussion to the clear light of a national policy, which should stand guard 
like a faithful sentinel over all home interests in /oretgn trade and conserve 
all. Forinstance, take the articles of tea, coffee and sugar, articles of al- 
most universal use among our people, and which none can deny would be 
very desirable to have at as low prices as they can be afforded. The first two 
we cannot produce in our country, at least that is the common and probably 
correct view, but the last we can, and have once produced largely and suc- 
cessfully at low prices. Acting in harmony with a sound national policy, 
our statesmen of fifty yearsago thought it advisable to collect revenue from 
this article, and encourage production in our own territories. 


* 


LTT» 


40 és THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


The result was all that"could have been desired. Up to the time of the 
war we had a large supply of Louisiana sugar at low prices, with a fair profit 
to the planters after their business was established on a safe footing. We im - 
ported some sugar, but that, owing to the aggregate increase of production, 
we had at lower prices than wouldotherwise have been current in the markets — 
of the world. Now, of course, that industry has been affected by the hur- 
ricane of war and emancipation, and has been, indeed, almost extinguished, 
though now reviving. In this juncture of affairs, what would be seund 
national policy? We think clearly to revive the culture of sugar in 
our land by a tariff that would make it a good, safe and permanent busi- 
ness, attracting the capital absolutely necessary for its re-establishment, and 
admit tea and coffee free from all duty. 

When South Carolina undertook to secede in 1832, her great imaginary 
grievance was this duty on sugar, which was peopling and building up a 
prosperous business in another State—a rival, perhaps—of whose wealth and 
position at the mouth of the Great River of the continent, (the greatest in 
the world, in a commerciai sense) she was perhaps jealous—her proud aris- 
tocracy having a rival—all declared, however, to be a matter of principle. 

And, General Jackson, when he issued his proclamation, while taking a 
firm stand and warning them that the United States government could 
not bow its sovereignty, admitted that their cause of complaint was just, and 
pledged himself to secure its removal. . 7 

But we think they were wrong. We think also that New England was 
wrong, when, suffering under the distress of the war of 1812, she held her 
Hartford Convention and proposed to secede, while a foreign war was going 
on. ‘The war was necessary to protect our flag on the high seas, and it made 
that flag inviolate. It is true the treaty did not provide for this, but Packen- 
ham’s defeat at the battle of New Orleans, fought after the treaty of peace had ; 
been signed in Europe, added a very large seal to the treaty on our side. 

These memories should not be revived to encourage sectionalism, but zo 
abate wt, and encourage TRUTH, and that magnanimity which will not rise upon 
any other foundation. Both were wrong, (in those cases,) both were sec 
tional, both were led by demagogues who inflamed the irritation the local 
pecuniary question produced, and with both foreign intrigue: was not idle. 
Above all, each was wanting at each respective period in a fixed principle 
of obedience to the requirements of asound national policy, and the just 
authority of the Federal government. 

‘“‘To err is human—to forgive is divine.” The Puritan and the cavalier 
should both learn HUMILITY AND TRUE NATIONALITY. 


MR WEEGER’S, GREAT (‘COA P= 


LEV SWAY Hie PU EE ON. 


UNCLE SAM’S GREAT COAT— 


ERED WAY IHE MIGHT, FUT) Id.-ON. 


T will be remembered that in Mr. Weller’s recital of the way in 
<b fp) \ which he put on this overcoat, that one hand and arm had to 
re KK be put through one sleeve, and the other through the other 
oats sleeve, then ‘‘one strong conwulsion, and the great coat’s cn. ” 

Mr. Beecher (Henry Ward) has said that ‘‘the great movement now 
going on meant reform or revolution,” and Mr. Beecher is probably correct, 
and revolutions are rather uncertain in their results, but certain to be very 
terrible, destructive, costly and ruinous to much good. 

Meantime, Uncle Samuel has got a magnificent new overcoat which he has 
never yet worn. ‘That great coat is the Valley of the Mississippi, with the 
great lake plateau. If now he will put one hand through the Mississippi to 
the gulf, and the other through the Illinois to the lakes, and give ‘‘one strong 
conwulsion,” perhaps the revolution will not be necessary. For with this 
splendid new coat firmly on his broad shoulders, the old gentleman’s com- 
fort, dignity and good humor (and that of his family,in a good degree) 
would be restored, and would aid largely in the needed reform in his whole 
household, and if so it will be far better than revolution. It may be said 
that a “ conwulsion” mus! take place before he can even put on his coat— 
his new great coat. The Observer thinks not ; all that is needed is an agree- 
ment by the people of the country drained by the great rivers and lakes, 
(and as many more as possible, ) that he shall put it on; also an agree- 
ment by the people of the United States, from the miners of California to 
the manufacturers of the east (though miny demagozues die of it) that we 
shall have a NATIONAL PoLicy looking to the national preservation, instead of 
national depletion, looking to national independence, commercially and 
financially, instead of never-ending dependence ; looking to a lessening of 
the drain of specie to foreign shores-—(unparalleled in the annals of trade ) 
and an accumulation in Amzrica, looking to the lessening of the foreign 


S 
IS 
IN 


42 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


debt, with its fatal power of interest and usury, from which the country 
bleeds at every pore; a policy looking to the abatement of foreign influence 
in politics, in the press and in Congress, against which all experience of all 
time ancient and modern, should teach us to guard most strictly, and which 
reason and all the experience of all the ages, should teach us are moré 
to be guarded against cw than ever before, all soft speeches, pleasant civil- 
ities and intermarriages to the contrary, notwithstanding. , 

The good Book tells us that ‘‘ he that doesnot provide for his own house- 
hold is worse than an infidel,” and in the abundance of philanthropy the 
country has been drained and impoverished of its money, (specie, ) and 
debts (aside from national debt) have accumulated against us, surpassing 
anything ever known, probably greater in amount than any cne country ever 
owed another from the beginning of the world, at interest double that cur- 
rent usually in the old world—and this to the country that has already drain- 
ed us of nearly all the gold and silver, wrung by severest toil and suffering 
from the rocks and mountains of the far west in a quarter of a century, and 
now largely declining in their annual yield. We may be rich in property, 
but that property is at the mercy of this expended capital, and groans under 
its burthens of interest and taxes. 

Meantime, while the rich mines of California have declined in their an- 
nual yield to one-third or one-fourth their greatest annual yield of early 
days, and do not now pay for working—our foreign debt, through the con- - 
tinued and partly unnecessary expansion of the railroad system—and want 
of a national policy—grows heavier and heavier. And the decline in the 
yield of the precious metals in California is not made good by new mines 
in the new territories. ’ 

The genius of Salmon P. Chase did indeed give us a good circulation with- 
out specie, yet, cf course, every one knows that specie is the basis of ex- 
changes and commerce with the outside world, and that it would be highly 
unsafe to greatly increase the volume of circulation at home’on the present 
limited amount of specie, although the increase may be greatly needed. 

Meantime, in spite of disasters most numerous, sweeping and fearful in 
the past, wrecking the business of the country in the West at least 
every few years, dcoming one-half, at the least, of Our people to poverty ; in 
spite of all the sufferings and sacrifices of life and health of our miners, and 
their wonderful success, in a collective sense, producing since 1849 at the 

least two thousand millions of dollars in specie, and probably nearly three 
thousand millions, a sum so vast that it can be realized by but few and never 
paralleled on earth, and now not one-tenth is left in the country of all that 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 43, 


vast product, yet in spite of this and in spite of all the dire portents and cer- 
tain indications of the future, both near and remote, the idea of a sound 
national policy, distinctive and real, seems not to have had a local habitation 
and a name for at least twenty years, and scarcely an existence since the 
death of Washington and Jefferson, both of whom had it and left it to us, 
but sectionalism, demagoguism and partisanship have made it obsolete in 
fact and even in name. 

Some one will ask, what does it mean, anyway—the term, a national policy - 
Does it mean a high tariff for the benefit of New England and Pennsy!- 
vania, and the manufactories of iron, &c., &c.; in the west? No! it does 
not. It does not mean legislation for the benefit of a class or section, but 
for the benefit of all classes and sections of our own country. Not for the 
benefit of that part of the nation called New England, or that separate and 
distinct nation called Old England, (whose interests are not our interests, ) 
but forthe benefit of that nation known as the United States of America, 
but yet for half a century, more or less disunited by various t hings — 
and by selfish, narrow and sectional interests, acting in various ways, and 
only to be really united by a right understanding of the fact that the interests of 
a section or a class cannot be separated from the interesis of the nation as a whele. 
And these interests could be amplified and explained at length, and perhaps 
ought to be, and at great length. Yet the Observer believes that the footings 
of all the long columns, the condensation of the various topics with their 
many branches, may be given in a word, and that word is Independence— 
National Independence. 

And this is not to be won by applying the stilted ¢Aeorzes of innumerable 
writers (mostly English) on political economy, trade, free-trade, finance, 
farming, &c., &c., but by looking upon the vast and diversified resources 
God has given us, and applying the /ac¢s of our situation, and so dividing 
our industry and industrial forces, intellectual and physical, as to develop 
them ; and with such mines and miners, agricultural, manufacturing and 
commercial advantages as we possess, we have not intellect (plain com- 
mon sense) and patriotism (love of country) enough to prevent their products 
being absorbed by the greater and concentrated money power of England, 
through trade balances, loans, and the fatal power of long-continued inter- 
est,and thus our finance and business of all kinds injured and ruined, then 
among other importations we had better seek to import the old foreign 
policy of England, followed by her dead and living statesmen, and illustrated 
now by our dependence and her power—her money power. And that policy 
was not an arbitrary theory with a flexible policy, but just the opposite. 


44 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


The policy of care for national interests was and is f.ved in England, but 
the means varied, and still varies with changing times and circumstances. 
They do not lash the helm of the great English ship of state to the dogma 
of a demagogue who may be a hireling traitor, or self-deluded ambitious 
knave, and let her drift on the lee-shore of foreign influence, foreign debt, 
dependence and ruin of her merchants and starvation of her people,—but 
watch the varying winds, and seas, and currents, and determine their course, 
not by the views of some crack-brained theorist, but by accurate, practical 
observations of the fixed star of England’s iriterests to be guarded by pro- 
tective tariffs or free trade a$ those interests may require, and never sacrifice 
any great industrial or moneyed interest to the clamor of theorists who are 
too often destructionists. | 

But while we may learn a lesson from England—yet England is nota 
model for us. They had but an island—we have the best of a splendid con- 
tinent. Our institutions would not have done for her, and her institutions 
will never do for us. Her monopolies and vast body of very poor people 
working in her crowded factories, her mines, and on her rented lands, and 
in her docks and shipping, we wish to avoid, and God has given us ample 
m2ans to avert that dzep and hopeless poverty, from the soil of America for 
centuries to come, if we will but do right. 

The peerage of England, entrenched behind the vast wealth, power and 
prerogatives enjoyed for many centuries, now see that the diffusion of lib- 
eral sentiments menaces their power, and that the ball of revolution once 
started would sweep it away forever. ‘The suceess of the American republic 
has afways been a source of danger to them. Free trade with us would be a 
benefit to England, and so ward off or lessen the danger, and in this their 
interests are in accord with_that of all classes in the realm. 

To intrigue with foreign powers and contending factions in other 
countries than their own, is no new thing to them. ‘They are adepts in it, 
and the whole world is their game. Even the power of the best organized 
strong military governments of Europe, with the ablest diplomatists and all 
the machinery of watchful, vigilant guard and defense, have succumbed 
again and again. ‘They even do not regard intrigues and corruption and 
purchasing influence and even downright treason in-high places and in 
various ways, other than asa part of legitimate statesmanship. The treaty of 
Amiens was in their way, and they squarely broke it. The Danish fleet 
might fall into the hands of France, and they destroyed it; and their bards 
sang of it in lofty strains, | 

In view of all the past in their history and our own, 7 7s cerfarn that they 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 45 


have intrigued very mischievously in our politics, inside and outside of Con- 
gress and the press, and there is ample evidence that they have. The 
press is of course an engine of power they wonld not fail to use, and since 
our-authors are hobnobbing with their English cousins, and anxious for an 
English sale for their books and the allurements of English society and the 
favor of the nobility, one safeguard is gone. Relying upon our strength, we 
have feared no intrigue ; but strength avails little in such affairs of nations, 
in which especially, ‘‘the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.” 
Free trade is favored by some as a matter of principle, and a belief in its be. 
ing a sound policy for-us and for the world. So it may be, possibly, years 
hence, when the principles of Christianity are applied to statesmanship by 
all nations; and armies, and navies, and the arts of diplomacy are dispensed 
with. But the time is not come—for us—and certain ruin would result, and 
after a general crash, or with one’surely impending, Mr. Beecher’s revolution 
might swiftly follow. : 

Jefferson said we should place the agriculturist and the manufacturer side 
by side, and we are now at last in a fair way to do this. Then when the 
ranks of one are overcrowded, and over-production causes stagnation, the 
tendency will be to reinforce the other class, and so restore the equilibrium 
in the earnings of labor, and also of capital invested in each. But if there 
is no national policy—no srasruity in tariffs, or anything else, there can be 
no safety for the capitalist to invest in manufactories, which, at best, are 
more perishable and risky property than land. If, then, we do not manu- 
facture, we are at once placed in a position of dependence, both for manu- 
factured articles and for the sale of agricultural produce. ‘The ranks of the 
farmers will be swelled to overflowing, and they will be dependent on for- 
eign markets, from three to five thousand miles distant, still more than now. 

Capital can always control, in a great degree, the markets of the world, 
and the capital is held by England. We export now about two per cent. 
only of the corn crop, and yet that usually fixes, in a great measure, the 
price of the whole. And here is the utility of the grain speculator in this 
country as distinct from the shipper, and although in some mass conventions 
‘‘oambling in produce” has been severely condemned, yet the speculator aids 
greatly to lighten the weight of absolute dependence on foreign markets, 
with all the allowances for charges, margins for decline, &c., &c. 

The American speculator will often buy and hold, and so compel a rise 
in European markets and Chicago prices, instead of being absolutely de- 
pendent upon New York, sometimes greatly affect that market, through the 
firmness of its own operators. 


46 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


But in this great game England has all the advantage, by reason of her 
greater capital, her greater tonnage in shipping, and her ability to draw 
supplies from all parts of the world. Of course, she wants our tariffs re- 
moved, for then she could have almost absolute control. And she is exer- 
cising a mighty influence in this country. Her free trade league has its 
ramifications in every part where it can gain a foothold, openly or covertly. 

Meantime, some huge daily papers, that never have a word to say, from 
one year’s end to another, in favor of the manufacturing interests of the 
Mississippi Valley, and the vital importance of extending and increasing, 
securely and permanently, the working of iron in the west ona vast scale, 
suited to the vast consumption—have recently begun an unceasing howl for 
free trade ; not modifications of the tariff, to conform to a sound national 
policy, (a term they never use, and do not dare use), but absolute free 
trade—carefully keeping, however, usually, its adjunct, direct faxation, in 
the background, as that would be more than the people could stand at 
present. Some fourteen years ago, the writer had the honor of advocating, 
through the press of Chicago and Peoria, (in a course of articles published 
in each city), the plan of bringing the iron ores of Missouri and Lake Supe- 
rior to the Illinois coal beds, and working them upon the soil of Illinois. 
To many, this seemed at that time chimerical and visionary, but now it is 
an accomplished fact, and moreover, [Illinois is, or was recently, the second 
State in the Union in the production of iron rails—though, of course, very 
greatly behind Pennsylvania. 

Probably the population employed at Joliet, [linois, in the iron and steel 
works, and connected with and sustained by them, will consume of the 
agricultural products of Illinois much more than the surplus of that county, 
at prices materially above the value for exportation. ! 

So, at Chicago, Grand Tower, Springfield and other points. Ohio, Indi- 
ana and Missouri are rapidly advancing to the position of large iron-work- 
ing States. Wisconsin, Kentucky and Tennessee are also making good 
progress. But, although these papers are very large and ably conducted, 
with ample means, we fail to find in their thirty, forty and even forty-five 
columns per day, (exclusive of advertisements, ) for three hundred and sixty 
days in the year — scarce an allusion (we do not remember of one) to this 
interesting feature in the growth of the west, or even of this State. As 
newspapers reporting current events, the deficiency is most marked and sin- 
gular. Any one depending wholly upon them for facts and information, as 
many do, would be greatly at fault and in the dark in regard to the whole 
subject of the growth of manufactures in the west, or even in their own cities. 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 47 


Can it be that it is asubject of no interest? Can it be that a rolling mill 
in Illinois is of less importance than a row, or the erection of a blast furnace 
of less moment than the details of some one of the innumerable and brutal 
crimes of daily occurrence ; or the discovery, in Indiana, of one of the 
most valuable qualities of coal now known for working steel, of less conse- 
quence than an idea the editor may have conceived in regard to some elec- 
tion ; or some new fling at Grant, or some other man, or a new theory in 
regard to the great beauty of free trade; or finance, without the most distant 
allusion to the sending off two thousand millions of specie, leaving a very 
slim foundation for a healthy theory ? 

Thirty or forty columns per day, for very nearly every day in the year, is 
a pretty large stream of ink, quite large enough to float accounts of all these 
things. Can the gentlemen explain why they are nearly all omitted ? So, while 
all the newspaper world (of our land) is full of theories of finance in gay 
colors and rich in figures, &c., &c., why has there been no attention paid to 
the accumulation of materials for a foundation at a future day for the excel- 
lent theory we now have in practical operation? An honest, faithful, 
national policy, guarding the national interests, will, ere long, lead to an 
accumulation of specie, and then without any risk, or shock, or jar, we 
arrive at specie payments ; then, holding on steadily in the same course, we 
will be able to have more money and lower interest. 

But an oak does not grow in a day, and if, in our impatience, we are 
allured by England’s syren song of free trade, at this juncture, we are cer- 
tainly lost; and if Mr. Beecher is right, despotism and anarchy will contend 
on the once happy soil of America. Let us economize in freights and im- 
portations, and let us, by a national policy, save the materials and have an 
enduring, stable foundation for our finance and all business out of that 
which our own land still produces, though much less in amount, from its 
mines, its quartz mills, smelting works, assay offices and mints. Or, is there 
only enough specie for one foundation for a-national castle of finance, and 
John Bull must have that, and ours be only an attachment to it, a sort of 
large shed joined on, and not needing an independent base, as was once 
thought before the miners of California unlocked the golden stores of the 
west for Columbia, and gave the key to Australia to unlock hers for Old 
England, her mother, the younger daughter owing allegiance, but not 
now the elder, who should seek her own welfare. 

In the same year in which gold was discovered in California, England 
illustrated, in a remarkable manner, that wonderful national policy of hers 
to which we have referred—in her war with China. That old mass of hu- 


48 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


manity was quietly absorbing the gold and silver of England for her teas 
and other products, and keeping it all—buying nothing of England, or very 
little. The drain was excessive, and would be ruinous if continued. So 
England made war upon China, to force upon her the drug opium—pro- 
hibited by China, as ministering to a most fearful and increasing national 
vice—and largely produced in England’s Indian possessions, over which 
her commerce had spread its broad mantle. The alternative was severe, yet 
it was considered a necessary measure of self-defence, and while we need 
not endorse or approve of it, the lesson should not be lost—should not have 
been lost at the time upon our statesmen. And it was not upon one—John 
Quincy Adams, with the true eye of a national statesman, saw the point, and 
even. went so far as to justify it fully and maintain that England was right. 
But Mr. Adams died, and the clash of party and section drowned the spark 
of commercial wisdom in national exchanges, and a ‘‘learned and elo- 
quent ” United States senator from Massachusetts disputed with another of 
the same classs from South Carolina on the great question as to whether the 
hay crop of Massachusetts or the cotton crop of South Carolina were most 
valuable, while on the prairies of Iowa and Illinois, more hay than the 
gentleman eulogized as a national affair, was annually burned up without 
attracting attention. 

Then in 1857, after the banking system broke down from its own weak- 
ness, shipwrecking the business of the country so needlessly, and sweeping 
away the earnings of many lives, there was not the shadow of a shade of a 
feeling of accountability therefor upon the minds of our public men, whom 
we call ‘‘statesmen.” That the ‘‘revulsion,” as the breaking down has been 
very improperly called, was wholly unnecessary, the proofs are incontestible. 
Our space will not admit of details, but one point will suffice. Produce, 
even in New York City, fell to a price far below its value for exportation, 
and men worth two millions of dollars could not get five thousand from the 
banks. There was not money enough to transact the business—the specie 
had largely gone to England. We had had no policy. So complete had 
been the failure of our so-called ‘‘statesmen” to realize the fact, that they 
had never done their duty—that after the disaster the industrious working 
business men of the country, groaning under their losses and ruin, were in- 
sulted by some of these so-called statesmen, with an insolence that has re- 
cently been paralleled by some eminent men, and was justly rebuked by 
others. 

The future student of history will read the debates and proceedings in 
Gongress of those days with amazement at the evidences of unfaithfulness, 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. i 49 


infatuation, neglect, subserviency to party and section, or incompetency, 
or all combined. 

The English Parliament may show some frothy debate, but the English 
policy holds on its steady course as stable as that of ancient Rome; as subtle 
and as dangerous to its rivals. John Bull plays a strong game of finance, 
and played it long ago. 

The Bank of Genoa felt it, and through it Philip of Spain and the Span- 
ish armada were delayed and so defeated. Indeed, she has never been beaten, 
but if the men of the Mississippi Valley and the Jakes will unite, Uncle Sam 
need not be so badly ‘‘scooped” of his hard cash as he has been, for if nec- 
essary we can play the heathen Chinee game, and if he raises a row we can 
defend the States. We do not mean anything unfair, or to try the Chinese 
plan to the extent of absorption of all of John Bull’s cash, but only to keep 
our own, so that Uncle Sam may, some day, get the foreign mortgages off 
of his farm, (railroad, State, national, municipal, etc., etc.,) provide for his 
own family, pay his own taxes af home, and have a little left. But first let 
the old gentleman step to the middle of his best room, and extend his arm, 
first through the gulf arm-hole and then through the lake arm-hole, and the 
‘‘conwulsion” need not be any greater than from taking a pinch of snuff, 
if men will only do right, and the railroad magnates will show as much 
ability in utilizing their lines in connection with this great water-way, and 
favoring its construction and improvement, tempered with a sincere desire 
for the just promotion of the general welfare of their country and their own 
honor, as they have heretofore shown ability in pushing great artificial means 
of transportation, regardless of the aid the great river should afford, then 
all will be well. That it is wrong for the people of the west, and, in- 
deed of the Union, to fail to make the best possible use of this great natu- 
ral highway to the sea, in cheapening freights, none can deny, nor can it be 
denied that this great river system should now be united with the great chain 
of lakes by a United States work, commensurate with the great objects to be 
accomplished .and the beneficent results to be so easily won. 

But let not the East be alarmed about the removal of the capitol. Prudent, 
diligent and faithful attention to other things of far greater practical import- 
ance to the country should claim attention for at least twenty-five years, and 
we should think more of being a united, independent and prosperous people 
than of changing the location of the capitol. And as the benefits will be 
universal, so should the effort to secure them be extended far and wide, 
grange calling to grange, county to county, city to city, and State to State. 


PERSIA. 


CERTAIN Baron Reuter has, it seems, taken a first lien on 
Persia, that will teach tne unfortunate people there (it they 
did not already know it) that ‘‘monopoly” is not a myth, nor — 
the name abugbear. Recently famine brooded over that beau- 
tiful land and interesting people, and fearful were its horrors, and all unre- 
lieved by the world’s charity. Then comes the Shah’s, visit to Europe, royalty 
feasting royalty, despotism honoring despotism, wealth and magnificence 
honoring wealth and magnificence, while true Christianity looks on at the 
grand pageant and wonders what will result; and lo! The Bond, And here 
it is, aS very recently consummated in the city of London. 


THE PERSIAN CONCESSION. 


WHAT REUTER GETS AND WHAT HE PAYS FOR. IT. 


The comprehensive concession accorded by his majesty, the shah, to Baron 
Julius de Reuter, never having been published, except in a very general and in- 
complete way, the followiny accurate abstract will prove doubly interesting : 

The concession was issued at Teheran, on the 25th of July, 1872, the conditions 
imposed in it upon the concessionaire being ratified by him in London, on the 
24th of August of the same year. Thisremarkable document may be briefly de- 
scribed as conferring an absolute right to supply the means of locomotion, an ail- 
most absolute right to work mines, and a right of preference to the production 
and manufacture of everything usually provided by commercial companies. To 
secure success the resources of the country are placed at the disposal of the con- 
cessionaire in the most liberal spirit. Both in what it accords and in what it ex- 
pects the concession proves the ardent desire of the shah to develop the riches of 
his country and the confidence he reposes in the enterprise, intelligence, and sat- 
isfactory management of the eminent gentlemen entrusted with the task. What 
follows will justify these remarks : 

Article one authorizes Baron de Reuter to establish in London a company, or 
any number of companies, for carrying out the works specified in the concession. 

Article two authorizes Baron de Reuter, or his associates or representatives, to 
construct a railway between the Caspian sea and Persian gulf, as well as any other 
railway he may see fit. This important privilege excludes competition, and is ac- 
corded for a period of 70 years. 

Article three extends the railway privilege to tramways, referring to articles 
four, five and six for the rules to be observed in establishing and working these 


. 


two kinds of lines. 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER, 51 

Article four relates to the land required for the construction of railways, t®&m - 
ways, and the buildings and works connected with them. The government land 
wanted will be handed over free of expense ; the land belonging to private per- 
sons may be appropriated at current prices. The land required for the line is in- 
‘cluded the permanent way, wide enongh for a double set of metals and space of 
30 meters on either side. 

Article five shows the concessionaire (who is thoroughly identical with the com-. 
pany or companies representing him) the gratuitous use of the stone, sand, gravel, 
&¢., on the government domains which may be required in the construction and 
maintenance of the works. ‘The government also engages to see that the persons 
employed by the company be supplied with provisions, beasts of burden, Wc., at 
charges not exceeding the ordinary prices of the country. 

Article six enacts that all the material imported by the concessionaire, or com- 
pany or companies,both for railway and other purposes,shall be exempt from duty 
toll, customs, or excise whatever. All] the concessionaire’s lands, works and em- 
ployes will be free from any impost whatsoever ; all business will be conducted 
free from impost ; all his products, mannfactures, etc., will be allowed to circulate 
in the country, or be exported from the country, free of impost. ; 

Article seven stipulates that the details of the construction and workings of the 
line shall be laid down in a chier de charge to be appended to the concession. 

Article eight demands that the sum of £40,000 be deposited as caution money 
in the Bank of England in the name of the Persian government and the conces- 
sionaires. Should the work not be begun within fifteen months of the date of the 
concession the caution money will be forfeited to the Persian government. If the 
works are begun within the time specified the caution money reverts to the con- 
cessionaire in exchange for a certificate from the govenor of Rescht, confirming 
the arrival at Enzeli of the quantity of rails necessary for the construction of the 
line between Rescht and Teheran. 

Article nine allots to the government 2) per cent. of the profits resulting from’ 


the working of the line. : 
Under article ten the line or lines, after a period of 70 years, revert, to the gov - 


ernment free of charge, unless another agreement has been previously concluded 
between the government and concessiunaire or concessionaires. As to the build- 
ings, &c., belonging to the line or lines they will have to be paid for under any 
circumstances by the government at the prices accorded by the most liberal gov- 
ernment on such occasions. 

Articles eleven and twelve introduce the subject of mines. With the exception 
of gold and silver, and precious stones, any mine situated on government land 
may be appropriated and worked by the concessionaire free of charge, his sole ob- . 
ligation consisting in handing over to the government 15 per cent. of the net 
proceeds. Any mine situated on private property, unless it has been worked five 
years previous to the concessionaire expressing a wish to acquire it, will have 

likewise to be handed over to him. Any mine discovered by the concssionaire may 
be bought by him at the price currently paid for the mere superficies of the ground 
in which it is situated. 

By article thirteen the land required to work the mines, as well as the land to 


LIBRARY - 
: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


52 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER, 


put fhem in communication with railway, tramway, or high road, if belonging to 
the State, is handed over gratis to the concessionaire. The exemplications ac- 
cording to railway and tramway in articie six, are expressly extended to the 
mines, which likewise come under the seventy years’ clause contained in article 


ten. 
Article fourteen accords to the concessionaire for seventy years the sole and ex- 


clusive privilege of making the most of the government forests, all the land not 
cultivated up to the date of the concession being expressly included in this clause ;. 
' fifteen per cent. of the proceeds of the forest belong to the government. If the 
concessionaire cut down a wood the land thus gained must be sold to him in pref- 
erence to other buyers. 

Article fifteen passes over to canals, wells, and other subjects connected with 
the natural and artificial watercourses of the country. All such works are the 
exclusive privilege of the concessionaire, who receives the necessary land without 
payment, but undertakes to indemnify those proprietors who are injured by the 
innovation. Any uncultivated lands made productive by these works belong to 
the concessionaire, who will enter into an understanding with the government 
respecting the price of the water to be sold. Fifteen per cent. of the net profits: 
of the works belong tp the government. 

Article sixteen empowers the concessionaire and his associates to raise a capi- 
tal of £6,000,000 sterling, by means of shares or obligations,to commence the con- 
struction of the railway and other works. The concessionaire to be left at liberty to: 
determine the mode of raising the sum. 

Article seventeen contains a guarantee of the Persian government to undertake 
to pay an interest of 5 per cent., and an additional 2 per cent. as a sinking fund, 
on all capital raised or to be raised by the concessionaire, his associates, or repre- 
sentatives. As Persia is as yet entirely unencumbered with a public debt, this is 
a most valuable guarantee, and will probably prove extremely useful in the car- 
rying out of the works, the more so as article eighteen pledges the income of the 
government mines, forests, watercourses and customs for the payment of the 7 
per cent. accorded. ‘The guarantee comes into force only after the construction 
of the line between Rescht and Ispahan, the concessionaire, his associates, and 
representatives undertaking to pay the interest upon the capital issued up to that 
time. : 


By article nineteen the government engages to hand over the management of. 


their customs to the concessionaire or concessionaires for a period of twenty-five 
years, beginning March 1, 1874. The concessionaires engage to pay for this priv- 
ilege £20,000 a year in excess of what the gover. ment now receives. The price 
thus fixed will hold for the first five years, an additional 60 per cent. of the net 
proceeds being accorded to the government for the sixth and following years. 

Article twenty records that if the Persian government should be determined to 
permit the establishment of a bank or any other credit institution in their country, 
the concessionaire or concessionaires will be allowed the first refusal in preference 
to any other parties. 

Article twenty-one extends this right of preference enjoyed by the concession- 
aire to all the enterprises connected with the providing gas, roads, telegraphs, 


2 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER, a3 


mills, manufactures, forges, pavement, &c. Improvements in the capital and 
postoffices are also included in this clause. 

Article twenty-two provides that the right accorded in this concession can be 
transferred to other parties at any time. 

_ Article twenty-three stipulates that the works connected with the mines, forests 

and watercourses shall be begun simultaneously with the construction of the line ; 
the government engaging to supply the requisite amount of manual labor at the 

current prices and to protect the agents, employes and property of the com- 

pany. 

Under article twenty-four the French text of the concession, in preference to 
the Persian text, is declared the one by which all diffculties shall be decided. 

An additional article stipulates that the seven per cent. interest shall not be paid 
by the government direct, but to be taken from the proceeds of the customs, 
mines, forests and watercourses in case of need. 

The Reuter is said to have no doubt thatall this will be his, or his backers, 
securely. He claims to be a British subject, and as such that the govern- 
ment would support his rights with all its power. And so it will be in time. 
And by a curious coincidence the final winding up of the affairs of the old 
British East India Company took place in London, only a few weeks ago,’ 
leaving the vast empire of India the spoil of the fast anchored isle. 

Macaulay should have lived to write the history of Reuter, for Cline and 
Hastings are now outdone. ‘There is no need now for forging of treaties or 
selling of armies, to one native prince to beat down another. Persia is se~ 
curely entrapped, and can be disposed of at leisure. After all, it may be not 
much worse for Persia, possibly even better. And yet, what land should be » 
required to endure at the same time the evils of two systems of government, 
without the benefit of either—Oriental despotism and English monopoly 
combined. Away now with the quiet of the East, beautiful and unhappy 
Persia, and prepare for the diligent vassalage of the West. But oh, Albion, 
"is not the empire of the East, and thy vast dependencies in Australia, Africa 
and America enough for thee; that we may be free! free from the blandish- 
ments of thy power, and thy corrupting intrigues, free from thy siren song of 
free trade, that kind which leads to national dependence, debt, poverty and 
vassalage to your money power ? 

And, thou too, oh Columbia, canst thou not refrain from following after 
false professors of dogmas, and party and sectional error, corrupting luxury, 
avarice and destructive speculation, and let thy true sons unite, and thy fair 
‘daughters, north and south, east and west, aid in inspiring way and a na- 
uonal American policy, ere thou art a prey to a far-reaching British policy, 
to which the Muse of History points her silent finger, and has pointed long 
in vain? Look at the schemes and arts of European diplomacy and mon- 


54 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER, 


archical ambition, violence and intrigue, for ages, consider the history of all 
this, and the money power illustrated by the Rothchilds, and think, oh 
American Democrats, of your unspeakable folly in placing at the head of 
your national organization an agent of that house. 

And if now the watchword be ‘‘ reform,” then let not the reply be sérz/e 
and revolution too swiftly, but rather peace and nationality, and the application. 
of better sense, intelligence and integrity to politics. And let us give more 
attention to utilizing the means and resources of nature, still free from mon- 
opoly, and let one among the first steps be the opening of the mouth of the 
Mississippi as under a permanent and admitted duty of the United States 
government, and also of the great water-way—the Grand Central National. 
Water-way from north to south, the main trunk (free to all the nation) for 
the railway system, as well as for the great system of inland navigation from 
lake to gulf, and from the base of the Alleghanies to the base of the Rocky 
Mountains, promoting every true legitimate interest of every class, and every 
section, and every individual. But the corruption in legislation that exists, 
as is so generally charged and believed, must be suppressed by a better use 
of the power of the ballot, and reform in public affairs cannot be complete 
or effective unless begun there. And as in religion so in politics, reform 
really should begin in every man’s own heart ; avarice, luxury and ambition 
are the chief causes of monopolies, and political soundness and integrity, or 
the opposite, cannot be limited to the bounds ofa city, a class, a section, or 


‘a party. 


WON-DERFUL PIERS AND BREAKWATERS. 


A HARBOR AS UNEQUALED AS THE COUNTRY IT RBPRESENTS. 


ROM some cause, the Great Mississippi Valley Harbor has 
rarely been described as it should be, and few even of us, 
who have seen it, realize fully upon what a grand scale it 
was fashioned in Nature’s great laboratory, to meet the re- 

quirements of a great people's commerce with each other, and with the 

world. Adapted, too, most admirably, for defence against the world, if 
occasion required. 

Far different is our river from the great Amazon, in its mode of entering 
the sea—as different as the great valley it drains is from its South American 
compeer. The Amazon widens its banks, and its vast expanse of waters, 
broadened like a great lake, gradually loses itself on the bosom of the sea. 
But the Mississippi, sending its surplus waters through many a bayou and 
lake, so that the rise and fall of its waters is slight at New Orleans as com- 
pared with that at the mouth of the Ohio, yet remains a mighty river, from 
fifty to one hundred and fifty feet in depth, and more than a mile in width, 
some hundreds of miles above the passes or mouths by which it enters the 
gulf. The entire distance of two hundred and fifteen miles from the head 
of the passes to Baton Rouge especially, forms one superb, safe and admir- 
able harbor ; combining rare advantages, and peculiarly adapted to conveni- 
ent and easy transfer of freight from all water-craft to the land—to railroad 
cars, or from river vessels to river vessels, or from river vessels or cars to sea 
going vessels, or from sea vessels to boats, storehouse or cars. Deep and 
tranquil water throughout, close up toa good bank, secure from rocks, snags 
or shoals, surf or tides. Anywhere the Great Eastern could ride securely, 
and anywhere the humblest batteaux, or flat boat, or barge, could moor 
alongside in equal safety. Anywhere the railroad track could be cheaply 
laid, (if need be), so that the passenger could extend his hand from the car 
window and grasp the hand of his friend on the deck of the ocean vessel 
from the Atlantic coast, the up-river steamer, or! the ocean steamer from 
Europe or any port of the world—or hand him the last paper, or (if he — 
pleased), the LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


56 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


So, too, while the harbor is vast and admirable, are the approaches to it 
from the great river system to the northward, as well as from the sea and 
gulf. People often speak of the great bends of the river on its route from 
the north, and of straightening them by engineering works and cut-offs, 
&c., as though they were useless freaks of nature, 

Far from it// The river descends from an elevation of several hundred 
feet, to meet he waters of the gulf, and these bends reduce the current, 
which, otherwise, would be too great for navigation ; just as the path on the 
mountain side is made to wind to right and left, that it may not be too steep, 
These bends diminish as the river approaches the gulf, and below the Eng- 
lish turn below N ew Orleans, the river is almost straight. - Here it projects 
itself far out into the gulf, and long before men had built ships, had formed 
these great natural piers and breakwaters, on each side. ‘These projecting 
spits of land, when far out in the gulf, divide again into three main divi- 
sions, each projecting into the gulf from ten to fifteen miles.further, one 
pointing to the south, one to the west, and one to the south-east, through 
which, with these He cteel piers on each side, Riow the mouths or passes of 
the Mississippi. 

The great projection of the river into the sea or gulf, (unlike anything in 
the world), gives outward-bound ships an ample clearing from the land in 
any wind, which, of course, they would not have in so.great a degree, if the 
canal invention is tried. 7 

Ancient Egypt, the granary of the ancient world, marked for the naviga- 
tors, the entrance to the Nile, or its harbor near, by the construction of a 
tower, the renowned Pharos, the wonder of the world, from its height and 
solidity. We need no such wonder of the world, lest it should mark a steal 
incredible. Lighthouses around all this projecting land, and buoys or 
marks at all the passes, certainly are needed. 

It has been attempted to give drzefly a slight idea of the wonderfully grand 
_ scale and admirable facilities of this vast harbor, zafurally, one would think, 
almost beyond the grasp of any monopoly, and right measures and men 
should soon sweep away, like cobwebs, the abuses in towing, extortionate 
port charges, and failure to deepen a few rods of narrow channel across the 
bar at one pass: which, it is said, a large, heavily laden steamer, passing 
and repassing steadily, would keep clear effectually, when once deepened. 

Away with these things, then, and let the mighty river and its noble harbor, 
free from all the taint or touch of monopoly, be the great lever of the nation 
against monopoly, and as God intended it, Bele helper of the people, and 
_ for their use and benefit. 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 57 


' 
Grand and majestic in its utility, and beautiful as grand, with a beauty 
peculiarly its own, does not the noble river harbor, in its vast amplitude, 
beauty and grandeur, flowing above the land as it here does, seem to whis- 
per from the sweet bosom of Nature on the warm breath of the south, its 
protesting moan against oppression, avarice, violence, monopoly, hypocrisy 
and plunder—and the angel of destiny bending from the skies, to indicate 
that here, where slavery fell and British monarchical power met signal defeat 
—these too, should receive their check on Columbia’s soil from her united 
children, humbling themselves not before men, or brazen images, or any 
structures of iron or brass, or paper, but before God alone, and joining 
hands in the cause of safety and reform, beginning with the thing most urgent, 
trifling in its cost, but great in its far-reaching results, and /¢he key to many 
reforms, as well as A WALL AGAINST MANY DANGERS. 


58 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


DAY BROTHERS & CO.. 


South Adams Street, 
PEORIA, 1L LS. 


IMPORTERS AND WHOLESALE DEALERS IN : 
EES GOODS, 


Notions and Carpetings. 


Full lines in all above Goods at as Low Prices as can be bought East or 
West. Merchants are invited to look at our Stock. Full New 
York discounts to Cash Buyers! Large Retail Depart- 
ment. Dry Goods and Carpets. Large bills 
at very low prices. 


ALEX, G. TYNG. P, R. K. BROTHERSON. A. G. TYNG, JR. 


TYNG & BROTHERSON,. 
MMISSTON MERCHANTS. 


PEORIA, ILLS. 


eo 


REFER TO 
First NATIONAL BANK, Peoria, Fuack, Haut & Co, Baltimore. 
UNDERWOOD & Co., Chicago. J. A. & W. Brrp & Co., Boston, 
CoLE BrotruHErRs, St. Louis, Wicks, Ross1torR & Co., New York. 
S. PursirerR & Co., Peoria. C, T. HiLLYER, Hartford. 


Mitiar & WitTHERS, Philadelphia. 


GEORGE N. WALKER. GEORGE N. WALKER, JR. 


G.IN. WALKER & CO., 
COMMISSION MERCHANTS, 


11 and 12 Water Street, 


Advances made on Consignments. P A) Fea. if JECE 
’ Concho 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 5 9 


GEORGE L. BESTOR, 
Attorney at Law and Real Estate Agent, 


$11 Main St.. Peoria, Ills. 


Buy and sell Real Estate on Commission, etc. 


Special attention given to the Interests of Non-resident Real Estate Owners. 


100,000 Acres of Western Land for Sale. 


A Desirable Improved Farm for Sale, 


IN McLEAN CO., ILLS. 


Price and terms favorable. Said farm is located six anda half miles north of Saybrook, in 
McLean Co., [ll., on the line of the Bloomington and Lafayette Rail Road, and ten miles west 
of Gibson, on the junction of two railroads, Being the N. E. 4% Sec. 20, Tp. 24, (Cropsey): 
Range 6, E. ., McLean County, containing 160 acres, nearly all of which is under good state. of 
cultivation. Good house, stabling, cribs, pasture lot, a young orchard, &c., on premises. For 
further information call on Dr. D. Sabin, on farm adjoining, head of Mackinaw, ot address me 


at PHORIA, ILL, CHAS. L. SCHELL, 
JOHN D, McCLURE. . JOHN M. HENDERSON. 


McCLURE & HENDERSON, 
Commission Merchants, 


INO. O-Spurek's Siock,” Peoria, [lis: 


Advances made on Shipments, 


REFER TO 


MECHANICS’ NATIONAL BANK, Peoria, Ill. W. A. HERRON, Savings Bank, Peoria, Tl, 
DAY BROTHERS & CO. WALKER McILVAINE, & co. 


a Ba On es 
HoG RINGER & RINGS, 


Patented August 27th, 1872. 


ue: ee 
RINGERS, . RINGS: 
EGG E BUTS oc sea a eeereban eos s\ Pat's ede. speeder $ 150] 1 box retail, (100 rings).. Aa OU CUS: 
PeGOG.e abe hl seaChice somes. csc. anette ane 12 00 | 1 doz. boxes (1200 rings) at d0cts per box & 480 
G doZ.,-at 874 Gtsi éach 22)... har. de 63 00 | 6 doz. boxes (7200 rings) at 87%cts ‘ 27 00: 
12dow,., at W5cts.' CA Chess em se aire «<4 108 00 | 12 doz. boxes (14400 rings) at 35cts * 50 40 


TERMS—Cash in Thirty Days. 


KINGMAN & CO., General Agents, 
PEORIA, TiLIN Ors. 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER, 


on 


To Manufacturers, Artisans, 


And all wanting Cheap Land with Rare Advantages for business and 
Homes of their own. 


I am offering land and lots on most fayorable terms, and at very low prices, (extra induce- 
ments, land, steam power, &c., to manufacturers) in the new town of MCDOWELL in Living- 
ston Co., Ills., and invite all to examine who may wish new and favorable locations. 

With abundance of cheap coal of good quality, a healthy and pleasant location, a rich and 
fruitful soil, and surrounded by a farming country unsurpassed in the West, now nearly all 
under cultivation, and occupied by an orderly and industrious community, with every rod of 
land underlaid with a good four and a half foot vein of coal and three shafts now in operation 
within six miles, (those of Fairbury and Pontiac) with good building stone for foundation and 
cellar walls, (and for lime) and sand for mortar and plastering right at hand,—good brick clay 
and a heavy body of timber on the Vermillion River near by—it will be seen that McDowell po- 
sesses natural advantages for a fine thriving country town, rarely combined in one locality. It 
is located between Pontiac and Fairbury, on the line of the ‘‘ Chicago and Paducah” R. R.,—({a 
new Road, which for fair dea.ing will compare favorably with any in the country, and affords 
connections with the great network of Railways to all parts of the Union)—less than one hund- 
red miles from Chicago, and will soon have a direct through road completed to the Ohio River. 


Call on or address 


JOSEPH E. VERKLER, McDowell, Liwingston Co., Ill. 


FAIRBURY HOUSE, 


WW. W. AMSBARY . Proprietor, 


Fairbury, Livingston Co., Ills., 


This Hotel is now greatly enlarged and improved—twenty two rooms have been added. Bath 
Room attached. Central location. 


Rates, $2.00 Per Day. 


LIVINGSTON HOUSE, 


S.A. WRIGHT, PROPRIETOR, 


(Formerly of Chicago.) 
FAIRE UORY, ToLINOoTS. 


Having recently taken this large and commodious Hotel, I would invite the public to 


patronize it, and will spare no pains to give satisfaction. 
S. A. WRIGHT. 


FarrBury, Ills., Aug, 14th, 1873. 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 6b 


R. OLNEY, Attorney and Solicitor. J. A. FELLOWS, Circuit Clerk. 


lee ORIN Get Pe ce (OOM 


LIVINGSTZN COUNTY TITLE ABSTRACT OFFICE, 


And Real Estate Agency. 


Furnish Abstracts of Title, buy and sell Real Esate, loan Money, perfect Titles, pay Taxes for 
Non-Residents, draw Conveyances, etc., etc. Have camplete Abstracts of Title, to all Real 
Real Estate in Livingston County, compiled under Durfee & Warren’s System, Copy-Righted in 
1864 and 1865, from which the exact condition of the Title can be shown. All business attended 
to with promptness and fidelity. Orders solicited. 


Office, No. 9, UNION BLOCK, — PONTIAC, ILLS. 


Strawn, Worcamotr & McDoweE tt, 


LAW Y ERS, 


Office up Stairs, Northwest Corner of Union Block, 


J.R. WOLGAMOTT, 


C. C. STRAWN, 
H. H. MCDOWELL. 


PONTIAG, LLL. 


Lock Box 39. 


BANEKING HOUSE 


Jos. Culver cé& Ero., 
PONTIAC, ILLIONIS. 
CORBESPONDENTS : 


LUNT, PRESTON & KEAN, - - - Chicago, Illinois. 
PARViEC OG Kec. - - - New York City. 


Buy and sell Exchenge, Real Estate, make Collections, and do a General Banking Business. 
Also make Abstracts of Title, and negotiate Loans on Real Estate, at reasonable rates. 


Db. k. STRAIGHT, 
ee NC eee) ea IN phy eA = TA VV es 


AND SOLICITOR IN CHANCERY. 


Fairbury, Livingston County, Dlinois. 


G2 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


Wi PrHE YyY BROS., 


Carriages 


90% Wagnns, 


Washington Street, bet. Seventh and Eighth, SPRINGFIELD, ILL. 


THOMAS L. CONNOR & C0. 
COMMISSIONS MERCHAN Fs: 


And Dealers in Produce, Fruit Fish, Game and Oysters, 
West eae St., bet. 4th & Sth, North Side, 
P. 0. Box 3109. SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, 


Consignments especially solicited from Fruit Growers. Correspondence invited. 
Gee : 


nS 
REFER. TO 


THE SPRINGBIELD SAVINGS BANE, pave & Hay, Wholesale Grocers, 
SmirH & Bro., Wholesale Notions Ae 5 fh GLIDDEN & Co., Wholesale Drug roists, 


B. H. Fereeuson. Wholesale Ghine and Glassware. 


B. H. FERGUSON, 


Importer and Jobber of 


China, Glass, Crockery, 
LAMPS, LANTERNS, ETC., 
COAL OIL, WRAPPING PAPER & STONEWARE. 
Nos. 129 & 181 SIXTH STREET, 
Corner:-of Monroe. Street. SPRINGEFIELD, ILLS. 


eA Wl hd ls ass ms a 
WHOLESALE GROCERS, 


AND DEALERS IN 
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC LIQUORS, 
113 West Washinston Street, 
SPRINCFIELD, ILL. 


Goods sold at Chicago and §t. Louis Prices. 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER, 63 


ESTABLISHED 18851. 


Builds and furnishes all kinds of 


WMARBLE & GRANTTE 
MONUMENTS |! 


Shop and Yard, Cor, Main & Olive Sts, BLOOMINCTON, ill. 


Orders Execnted Promptly. 


J. W. BOOTH, Salesman. 


REPUTATION AND MONEY 


CAN BE MADE BY SELLING THE 


AMERICAN SUBMERGED PUMPS. 


The Bridgeport M’f’g Co,, to keep up the present well-known reputation of this pump, 
and to hold it as the standard pump of the country, propose to meet the objection to galvanizing 
by adopting a new feature, viz., to enamel pump and pipe. This finish offers a perfect resist - 
ance to all possible deletrious effects arising from the presence of vegetable acius and metals, 

in combination, in drinking water. 

To increase their : sales, and cover their heavy expenses entailed by this new process, they 
propose to sell territory by Town and County rights, and supply parties who buy these rights 
the goods at greatly reduced prices. As the Company intend to be the manufacturers solely, 
they, have made an exclusive contract with the undersigned te sell all rights for the territory. 
Full particulars and all information given by applying 1 to MUDGE & WwoopDs, 


55 Chambers St., New York Gity. 
. Messrs. A. A. Rundle & Bro., of Bloomington, Il]., are our Agents for sale of Licenses for the 
State of Illinois. ; 


This Pump was invented by a farmer, and it beats all other force pumps in the market—either 
in this country or Europe. 


JOHN T. WALTON, 


MANUFACTURER OF 


CAST STEEL AND HARDENED CAST STEEL 


Pre Wis. 


Cultivators, Double Shovels, Prairie Plows, dc. 
210 & 212 Washington Street, 
BLOOMINGTON - - ILLINOIS, 


JUNCTION HOTEL, 


AT CEENOA,A, 
Crossing of Chicago & St. Louis and Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroads. 


House newly fitted and furnished throughout, and affords good accommodations at fair™ 
prices, Good Sample Rooms. 


GEORGE CRIBBS, Proprietor. 


64 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER, 


Established 1835. 


EDWARD MEAD & Co. 


DEALERS IN 


Watches, Jewelry, Silverware, 


Clocks, Bronzes and Fancy Goods. 


304 N. Fourth Street, adj. Everett House - - ST. LOUIS. 


S. WM. BDGELL & C¢O., 
Commission Merchants, 


No. 200 S. LEVEE, 


S. M. Edgell, } 
s E. ae b bce 
eorge 8. Edgall, yAN N O 
Chas. Rausch. = x x Uh Legon ie 


Liberal Advances made on Consignments. 


Gurrie, King & Coa., 


Commission Merchants, 
_ No. 104 South Main Street, 


Wm. Currie, l 


HG. King. | 3 ST. LOUIS. 
Francis W. Crane. 4 Hugh Ferguson, 
FRANCIS W. CRANE & Co., 
BROKERS IN 


PROVISIONS, BREADSTUFFS & COOPERAGE, 


Merchants Exchange Building, No.8S. Main St., 
sT.LoOvUuUrITs. 
CASH ADVANCES MADE ON CONSIGNMENTS. 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 65 


KEOKUK NORTHERN LINE PACKET CO, 


St. Louis and St. Paul. 


and St. Louis and Weokuk! 


AW cl AT Lee bod Ni S! 


The magnificent side-wheel Passenger Steamers of this line leave St. Louis daily 
For Hannibal, Quincy, Keokuk, Burlington, Davenport, Rock Island, 
Clinton, Dubuque, LaCrosse, Winona, Red Wing & St. Paul, 


Making close connections with Railroads and Steamboats for all points in the 
United States. For further information, apply to or address 


General Office, 308 Commercial Street, 


ST. LOUIS, MO. 


JAS. A. LYON, J.S. McCUNE, W.F. DAVIDSON, 
Gen'l Pass’'gr Agent. President. Superintendent 


MISS. VALLEY 
TRANSPORTATION 


COMPANY. 


The only Bonded Inland Transportation 
Company im the United States. 


This Line takes no way Freight. Time from St. Louis to New 
Orleans from two to four days quicker than any other line. Insu- 
rance from St. Louis to New Orleans, and from New Orleans to 
St. Louis one half of any other line. foreign merchandise re- 
ceived at New Orleans and forwarded without commission. Can 
forward such merchandise with or without custom-house appraise- 
ment, as parties may wish dues paid at St. Louis. All merchan- 
dise forwarded to them for New Orleans moved with dispatch and 
free of commission. 

GEORGE H. REA, Pres’t. 


66 THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 


PILANT SEED CO! 


PLANT BROTHERS. 


INCORPORATED IN 1872. 


Sri DOS! 


Clover, Millet, Timothy, Hungarian, Orchard Grass, Blue Grass, Red 
Top, Rye, Barley, &¢., &c., &e. 


Send for descriptive priced Catalogue of SEEDS to PLANT SEED CO.,, 
ST. LOW Sehr. 
E. H,. SMITH . A, RISING. J. WOOD. 


SMITH, RISING & CO., 


MANUFACTURERS OF ALL KINDS OF 


eceie” A HS ft 


ESPECIALLY BLUE SEAL AND XL, AND DEALERS IN 


ALL KINDS OF MANUFACTURED TOBACCO, 
No. 34 Madison Street, 
OTTAWA, - - ICR INOisS: 


FARMS IN TELELINOTIS! 
I am offering for sale 
A Number of Excellent Farms, in Livingston and McLean Counties, 


of from 40 to 700 Acres each. 
Among others, 
TELE EURtORE FARM 

A very choice property. of 360 acres, only three-fourths of a mile from 
Forrest, a beautiful village on T. P. & W. Railroad, in Livingston County. 
The farm is divided by hedges and fences into ten lots, has three houses, is 
well supplied with wells and running water, a fine orchard, and natural and 
artificial groves—fine clover fields, &c. The land is unsurpassed in Illinois, 
and the property (worth $60 per acre) is now offered at $45 per acre. Can 
be divided into two farms Me 120 and 240acres. Also 

A SPLENDID FARM 
Of seven hundred acres, seven miles from Fairbury and two miles from 
Station, land of the very best quality, under good improvement, with two 
houses, barns, hedges, cribs, &c., &c.,—good water on the whole tract can 
be had within from ten to twenty feet of the surface. Offered now at $35 
per acre ; will be sold in smaller tracts, if desired. 

Also, SomE Cuotck WEsTERN Lanps, Town Property In FArRBUKY, A 
Horet (at a fine town having four or five railroads), for sale or exchange 
for a farm in Central Ilinois. Also various other property not enumerated. 

Apply to Wu.lT. STACKPOLE, Farrzury, Ills. 


THE LANDMARK AND OBSERVER. 67 


J. 8. McDONALD. PETER JOHNSON- 


McDOWALD & JOHNSON, 


BLANK BOOK MANUFACTURERS 


AND BOOK BINDERS. 
111 East Madison St., CHICAGO. 


Having one of the largest and best appointed binderies and manufactories in 
the West, we are prepared to attend promptly to all business in our line. 


Merchants, Bankers, County Clerks, Granges, Clubs and Business Men gen- 
erally, supplied with first class Blank Books at lowest rates. 


Parties in any section of the country wishing periodicals bound, and sending 
them to us, may rely upon the work being neatly and faithfully done at fair 
prices, and books promptly returned by express C. O. D., if so desired. 


Being ourselves experienced, practical workmen, we fully understand the 
requirements of the trade in all its branches, and feel satisfied that we can give 
satisfaction to all who may patronize us. 


f= Birney Hand & 00's <9 
Steam Printing tHousge, 


Business Office, Composition & Press Rooms, 


132 Dearborn St., 111 Madison Street, 
CHICAGO, ILLS. 


The Worst Printing Establishment in the Mississippi Valley! No attention 
whatever paid to orders. Prices beyond the reach of all. Seventy 
small business ‘cards for $840.00: other printing in pro- 
portion. None but botches, blacksmiths and 
blackguards employed, and an old- 
style cheese-press ensures 

rapid ‘‘EXECUTION. ” 


“tow this world 1s given to Lying !” 


| 3 45193 | 


0112 1155 


The Heart of the West: 


AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY. BY AN ILLINOISAN. 
Time: 1860. Scene: On the Mississippi River 


This book, printed just before the great fire in Chicago, and quite outside of all 
literary, political, speculative and sectional rings, and a large part of the edition _ 
burned, and the arrangement for sa’e and circulation overturned, was yet the sub- 
ject of some favorable notice, of which a few extracts are given beloy 


232 pages octavo, cloth. Price, $1.00, postpaid. 


Hanp & Co., 111 Madison St., Chicago. E. P. Gray, 437. N.FourthS “*t. Louis. 
a 8 ‘ 
WNWOoOvTICES OF TEE PwRESS. 


We have received from the publishers, Messrs. Hand & Hart, Chicago, a story 
entitled the “ Heart of the West.” The particular object aimed at by the writer, - 
who is an Tllinosian, is to discountenance sectionalism and extravagance in Na- 
tional affairs, and to advocate the holding of a National Constitutional Conven-_ 
tion for the equitable settlement of vexed questions, pointing to the condition of 
Illinois as an example of the beneficent working of such conventions. ‘The story 
is well written, and will be likely to attract considerable attention —Boston Post. 


The style and substance of this volume are deserving of attention. The sub-_ 
ject matter evidently has been drawn from real life and its incidents, althoush” 
bordering on the fanciful, have sufficient reality to stamp with truth. The scene 
was the Mississippi. and the time about 1860. The characters are drawn with re- 
markable power and distinctness) * * * * %* * * — Of the 
stvle, we cannot say that it is that of a practised writer, but it bears the evidnce 
of a supreme earnestness which sustains the readers’ interest. The charm of the 
book rests rather in nature than in any artistic excellence. That it is full of feel- 
ing and delicate sentiment, none can deny. The book has a deeper object than 
merely to amuse. It aims at a reform in all points of governmental policy, 
where there is intolerence or corruption —Philadelphia A ge. . 

We have read this story with deep interest. While it is well written, and the 
narrative such as to rivet attention, the lessons it is designed to inculeate are 
kept constantly in view, and are of great importance.—Ottawa Free Trader. 


We have not had opportunity to give this book careful examination. It is a 
novel. but a novel with a purpose. and that purpose so original and so far out- 
side of the beaten track as to excite curiosity and interest. It is written, prin- 
cipally, in advocacy of the scheme of a “ National Constitutional Convention,” 
which the author believes would go far towards a settlement of our political 
troubles, and, secondarily, in behalf of a juster and more humane policy than 
has hitherto prevailed with regard to the American Indians. With these objects 
in view, the book is appropriately dedicated to Bishop Whipple, of Minnesota, 
who has perhaps done more than any living man in behalf of the Indians, and 
to Millard Fillmore, of New York, who enjoys the reputation of being one of the 
most conservative of American Statesmen. 

The tone of the work, as far as we are able to judge from a hasty examination, | 
seems to be temperate, kindly. and catholic. The story, in its progress, follows — 
the Mississippi river through the rich and varied scenery that stretches from Lake 
Pepin to New Orleans ; it has the attraction of freshness and originality in its con- 
ception, and can scarcely fail to be interesting in its execution.—Mobile Register. 

Extract from a letter of Hon. Mt1LarD FILLMORE to the Author of tthis Work. 

I seldom read a novel in these days—but I became so much interested that 
I have read the book through, and I take pleasure in saying that I think it is 
exceedingly well written.—I like its moral and religious tone and its political 
views. It deals severely but justly with hypocrites in religion and demagogues 
in politics. They are the curse of society. The interest of the story, without 
any apparent plot, is well sustained throughout, and I think the work is calen- 
lated to have a beneficial influence. 


